ALFRED, Maine (AP) — The lawyer for the business partner of a Zumba instructor charged with running a prostitution ring from her dance studio is removing himself from the case.

Dan Lilley, lawyer for Mark Strong, told the judge Tuesday, a week before the trial is to begin, that his client doesn’t have money to pay him going forward and that he doesn’t have resources to fully prepare for trial.

The Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/X2bA8q ) says Justice Nancy Mills rejected Lilley’s previous motion to delay the trial. She scheduled another hearing for Friday.

Strong, an insurance agent and private investigator, is charged with promotion of prostitution, violation of privacy and conspiring with Alexis Wright, whom authorities say ran a prostitution operation out of her Zumba studio in Kennebunk. Wright is being tried separately.

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