SHERIFF: 44 prostitutes, pimps & drivers busted!

Are they running out of sex offenders for the registry?

8-24-2010 Florida:

Winter Haven, Florida - One woman was five months pregnant. Another woman admitted to having an STD. Six of the women were married. One of them was as young as 17.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says he's shocked by what he saw during a four-day undercover operation carried out by his vice unit at an upscale home in the county.

Undercover deputies answered online ads for prostitutes, asking the women to meet them at the house.

"This amazed me," he admitted during a press conference Monday afternoon. "I've done many undercover operations, but I can't believe some of the things I saw."

In all, 44 people were arrested - prostitutes, pimps and drivers among them. The ladies usually charged between $200 and $400 per "trick." Some of them came in from states like North Carolina, Ohio, Maryland, Indiana and Oklahoma.

"They said business was slow in other states," Judd told the media.

The undercover sting was called, "Operation Take 2."

The title for the operation came from a previous undercover sting. The vice unit rented a home in Polk County for a child predator take-down the week before.

This was the second part of the operation, only this time it was targeting prostitutes.

The Sheriff's team specifically targeted websites - backpage.com and craigslist - as the offenders.

"[The websites] need to be responsible corporate citizens and not promote this sort of thing," Judd said.

The oldest person arrested was a 77-year-old man who Judd said was acting as a pimp for one woman. The man gave her a ride the home and just happened to be a registered sexual offender.

"This is like slavery. It is not a victimless crime," Judd admits.

One young man who showed up actually drove his mother to the scene. And, yet another one asked, "Can I bring my 8-month-old baby with us?"

"They bring their entire lives into this," Judd told us.

Ironically, 35 of the women told the undercover deputies they would not come to the home because it was in Polk County.

"They're getting the message not to bring this into our county," said Judd.

He also talked about the websites involved in this sting.

"I challenge Backpage and Craigslist to stop this conduct now," Judd said. "We're going to look into backpage. They make Craigslist look tame."

The Sheriff says he's especially proud of the men and women who go undercover. His vice unit worked countless hours during the lengthy operation, often until the wee hours of the morning, only to wake up and do it all over again the next day.

"They do a phenomenal job," Judd said, "They are incredibly good, and I'm proud. They have to pretend to be someone they're not." ..Source.. Melanie Brooks

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Hire a prostitute, buy a spot on the KS sex offender list

I think this is going way overboard, not every lady of the night is the product of human trafficking. In fact, since the beginning of time people have used sex for income, and its not always women. These folks are rarely subjects of human trafficking, if ever.

3-24-2010 Kansas:

Thinking of hiring a lady of the evening in Kansas? Might want to think again.

The Kansas House today endorsed legislation to target human traffickers, but not before amending the bill to put those convicted of hiring a prostitute on the state’s sex offender registry for 10 years.

The amendment’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Slattery, an Mission Democrat, said the idea is to go after the demand for prostitutes, which he noted are often the victims of human trafficking.

“As the father of a young daughter it is the most atrocious thing I can think about,” he said of the practice of forcing young women into the sex trade.

But to account for youthful indiscretions, Slattery wouldn’t make the Scarlet Letter for prostitution permanent.

“Let’s say an 18 year old kid does something stupid,” he said. “Putting them on the sex offender list for their entire life might be overkill.”

Lawmakers in the House liked the idea and added it to the human trafficking bill before passing it. SB 359 now goes back to the Senate, which hasn’t considered Slattery’s idea.

The bill’s other components would redefine the crime of human trafficking to make it easier for police and prosecutors to go after offenders. It would also allow authorities to seize property and money from human traffickers, much in the same way that law enforcement already seizes the profits of drug dealers. ..Source.. KC Star.com

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McGinty: Prostitution bill would help young victims

2-7-2010 Georgia:

Imagine the worst.

Imagine your 12-year-old daughter has been kidnapped and, when she's finally found, she's been forced into a child prostitution ring. Imagine that she's kept in a drug-induced haze and raped repeatedly. Imagine the horror, grief and shock that would overwhelm you and your family as you dealt with that situation, and the work you'd be eager to do to heal your daughter.

And now, in the middle of that trying and sensitive situation, imagine that the state of Georgia is labeling her a criminal.

Imagine what you would do.

State Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, knows what she would do. She has proposed legislation that would establish a path of diversionary treatment for children under the age of 16 who are picked up for prostitution. Her bill would set up a system of care that would focus on education, prevention and increased opportunity for the victims.

And victims are exactly what they are.

According the the governor's Office of Family and Children Services, there are more than 400 underage prostitutes on the streets in Atlanta. The city has been ranked as one of the worst in the country in terms of child prostitution. A 2002 FBI sting broke up 14 men who had grotesquely pimped dozens of girls, some as young as 10.

It seems like a no-brainer piece of legislation, right? Well, apparently not.

Various conservative Christian organizations in Georgia have joined forces to oppose the bill. At a rally outside the Capitol earlier this week, speakers slammed the legislation, with former state Sen. Nancy Shafer arguing "the very profitable and growing pedophile industry" would benefit from its passage.

Likewise, Sue Ella Deadwyler, a conservative Christian activist, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that, if passed, the bill would result in "an absolute cultural upheaval" in Georgia that would legalize prostitution. Deadwyler went on to question how many of the victims actually were forced into such behavior, and said most of them willingly volunteered to be prostitutes. Rally participants included the Georgia Christian Coalition and Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition.

The current system, and the logic employed by those who so strenuously defend it, is seriously flawed. Rather than pursue justice against those who actually exploit young boys and girls, detractors of the proposed legislation would rather throw the victims in jail. In doing so, they confuse revamping the work needed to help the children victimized by prostitution with the decriminalization of the act.

For starters, the bill simply normalizes inconsistencies in Georgia law that label the commercial sexual exploitation of a child as abuse, yet prosecute children forced into prostitution as criminals.

Establishing a diversionary program doesn't signal an abandonment of law and order. The same actions still will be considered illegal and require the necessary enforcement. The only difference, however, would be on the sentencing end, where those younger than 16 picked up for prostitution would - after the appropriate legal process is completed - enter into a diversionary program. Doing so would cut down dramatically the likelihood that those exploited young people would continue the destructive behavior forced upon them.

In addition, Unterman's proposal makes no mention of weakening efforts of law enforcement officials in tracking down and arresting the despicable work done by the pimps. If anything, Unterman's legislation directs more focus on those perpetrators by properly labeling the children as victims.

In a column I wrote earlier this year, I cited the biblical story of Jesus and his disciples coming upon a blind man begging by the side of the road. The initial reaction of those with Jesus was to ask what it was this man, or his parents, had done wrong, as they assumed his affliction must be some form of punishment for his sins.

Jesus gently, but firmly, corrected the disciples and said the blindness was not a form of punishment. Instead, he said the experience with the blind man offered the opportunity for service and compassion, and he healed him.

Perhaps Deadwyler and others so eager to turn victimized children into criminals should heed that lesson. ..Source.. Johnathan McGinty Athens Banner-Herald

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Prostitution sting nabs 13-year-old Alabama boy

11-18-2009 Alabama:

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An undercover officer posing as a prostitute in Alabama tried more than once to run off a 13-year-old boy who asked her for sex, but police say the teen insisted and had to be arrested.

Authorities in Mobile said today the teenager has been charged with a misdemeanor count of loitering while looking for a prostitute. The next-youngest suspect nabbed in the sting was 22.

Police set up the sting in a residential area last week because of complaints about prostitutes trolling for business. Officer Christopher Levy says it’s not clear exactly what the teen said to the officer, or how she responded.

The boy’s name was not released because of his age and it’s not clear whether he is still in custody.

Fifteen people were arrested during the sting. ..Source.. Boston Herald.com

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S.C. blocked from filing charges against Craigslist executives

Hummm, well if the AG is going to sue the Craigs' List execs for aiding and abetting prostitution, if there were any cases, it also seems fair that EVERY STATE AG should also be so sued, as they did nothing about Craigs list from its inception. Right?

5-23-2009 National:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A federal judge blocked South Carolina's attorney general yesterday from making any move to prosecute Craigslist executives for ads that lead to prostitution arrests while the company pursues its lawsuit against the state.

The order from US District Judge Weston Houck stems from an agreement between Attorney General Henry McMaster and Craigslist. It requires McMaster "to refrain from initiating or pursuing any prosecution against Craigslist or its officers" regarding content posted on the site.



McMaster spokesman Mark Plowden called Houck's order standard for such cases.

"This is a very routine legal procedure that allows the parties time to prepare for a hearing," he said.

A spokeswoman for Craigslist did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

This week, CEO Jim Buckmaster filed a federal lawsuit against the prosecutor after McMaster threatened to go after the Internet advertising company for allegedly aiding and abetting prostitution if the site leads to a prostitution case in South Carolina.

In his filing, Buckmaster said McMaster's threat violates the constitutional rights of company executives.

On May 5, the attorney general called on Buckmaster to remove ads related to prostitution and pornography from its South Carolina sites, giving the San Francisco-based company 10 days to comply or face possible charges.

Craigslist subsequently pledged to eliminate its "erotic services" category and screen submissions to a new "adult services" section before posting them.

When the deadline expired May 15, McMaster said he still intended to charge Craigslist executives with aiding and abetting prostitution if an ad on the website leads to a prostitution case in South Carolina.

McMaster has said his office has continued to investigate the ads in the new "adult services" section, but no charges have been brought. After demanding an apology from McMaster for targeting his company, Buckmaster sued the prosecutor.

But McMaster insists he has gone after Craigslist at the behest of local law officers who say it's the number one marketplace for adverting sex services.

No hearing dates have been set. ..News Source.. by Meg Kinnard

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