False Imprisonment Charge Dropped Against Reality Show Director

APOPKA, Fla. – Prosecutors dropped a false imprisonment charge against an aspiring reality show director accused of holding women against their will while filming a show.

Prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to support the charge against Marc Brilleman, 33, who was arrested last month while making "Pauper to Princess" in Apopka. The show's concept was to build poor, uneducated women's self-esteem and document their progress.

A spokeswoman for the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office says there wasn't enough evidence to support the charge, which was dropped Wednesday.

Brilleman's lawyer, Mark NeJame, said Thursday he is considering legal action against the five women who made the allegations to police. He claimed the arrest and their decision to walk off the show cost his client's company more than $200,000.

"His reputation, career and business have been destroyed," NeJame said, adding that the women all signed contracts and fought to remain on the show, which has not been sold to any network.

The women told police Brilleman blocked and locked a door when they tried to leave. Brilleman denied that he did that when questioned by police. The women told police they were also upset that they had not been paid.

Alisha Waizmann, 23, one of the women in the house, said she was disappointed in the prosecutors' decision.

"We didn't do anything wrong," she said. "We were used and treated unfairly. We are the ones out of money and out of jobs."

Dream House Productions Inc. began filming the show in February and it ended with Brilleman's arrest. The house was previously used for a live-sex Web site, but none of the women said "Pauper to Princess" involved sex.

NeJame said the footage may become the basis for a reality show or documentary about their efforts to make a program.

"We are trying to salvage something. There is no chance to save the series," he said.