Read the whole story at The Hartford Sentinel…

Local call girl ring derailed
By Joe Johnson

Finding a prostitute is easy with the Internet. Of course, local police know that.

Two men looking for a good time got more than they bargained for on Wednesday night when a police sting operation cracked down on a local, Internet-run prostitution ring.

“You never know when the person you are calling may be a police officer,” Investigator Bryan Toppan said.

Hanford police were tipped off to the illicit escort service during the arrest of an alleged prostitute and her pimp one week ago. The pair were linked to the armed robbery of a downtown convenience store, but further investigation into their activities revealed a disturbing local trend, police said.

“Prostitutes or their pimps post up advertisements in these online classifieds,” Toppan said. “They are listed under the exotic services category with a picture, a phone number and directions on how to get in touch with them. Then people call them up and arrange to pay for sexual acts.”

Police Capt. Parker Sever said detectives were surprised to find several listings for Hanford on the Visalia and Tulare area Craigslist — a free online classifieds service.

One listing, for a suspect identified herself as “Desire” and “Pure Pleasure.” The advertisement describes her body and state that “no cheapskates” are allowed, but call “day or night” if “you have at least 100 dollars.”

“These were different people than the ones we picked up for robbery,” Toppan said. “So, we decided to piggyback a prostitution sting on the back of this other investigation.”

The result was five arrests made between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Undercover officers contacted two girls and arranged to meet them at an unspecified Hanford hotel. When they arrived, a squad of police officers was waiting to take them into custody.

“As we were making the arrests, the girls started getting cell phone calls from other people trying to solicit their services,” Toppan said. “So, we had an undercover female officer answer the phone and make arrangements to meet them at the same hotel.”

The new arrivals included two Kings County residents who were cited and released at the scene for soliciting prostitution.

Law enforcement also determined that the second girl arrested for prostitution was dropped off at the hotel by a man who was receiving profits from her services, who was arrested after the bust on suspicion of pimping and pandering.