Burbank Cops getting tough!  Read more at NBC Los Angeles…

Burbank Hookers, Beware
“The Burbank Police Department will not allow prostitutes and their customers to believe that they can use Burbank as their meeting place.”
By OLSEN EBRIGHT

Police in Burbank have issued a warning to pimps, prostitutes and anyone else benefiting from prostitution-related crimes.

“The Burbank Police Department will not allow prostitutes and their customers to believe that they can use Burbank as their meeting place,” Lt. Armen Dermenjian told the Burbank Leader.

The warning coincides with a beefed-up effort from cops to curb sex trade.

On Feb 23, police arrested three women at the Ramada Burbank Airport Hotel, said Burbank Police Sgt. Robert Quesada. On Feb. 16, a 19-year-old Poway woman and 26-year-old San Diego man were arrested on prostitution-related charges, according to police records.

Other recent incidents include the arrest of two Oakland men at the Extended StayAmerica Los Angeles-Burbank Airport on suspicion of pimping a minor under the age of 16, Quesada told the newspaper.

“We want these people to know that if they’re going to engage in this kind of conduct that the police and citizens won’t put up with it, and we’ll be out there targeting it,” Quesada said. “We don’t want to let them get comfortable.”

Read more at The San Francisco Chronicle…

San Francisco prostitution crackdown leads to 51 arrests
by Jaxon Van Derbeken

In response to neighborhood complaints about a rise in prostitution and accompanying street crime, San Francisco police said Tuesday that stepped-up enforcement in the downtown area has led to 51 arrests since Jan. 1.

Police arrested three dozen suspected prostitutes and 15 would-be johns in the first two weeks of 2010, authorities said.

Those arrested for prostitution all came from out of town, some from as far away as San Diego, police said.

Police targeted Polk Street from Sutter to Washington streets, as well as portions of Van Ness Avenue and Leavenworth Street.

Read more at KCBA.com…

6 held for alleged SoCal prostitution ring

Police have arrested six people they claim ran a multimillion-dollar prostitution ring out of luxury apartments in Pasadena and Irvine.

A Pasadena police statement Wednesday says officers acting on an anonymous tip worked with federal immigration agents to make the arrests last month following a 2-year investigation.

Guys wandering the highways and byways for some TLC face some bad odds, evidently. Read more at The Californian…

Salinas police arrest 4 women, 4 transvestites in prostitution sting

BY KIMBER SOLANA

The Salinas Police Department arrested one woman and two transvestites, and cited five others, after officers conducted a prostitution sting Friday night.

The five-hour sting by the poilice narcotics unit, the Violence Suppression Unit, and SUBA Unit, were conducted in east Salinas – at Griffin and Rianda streets, and Kings and Roosevelt streets.

Read more at The Daily Mail…

Tiger Woods’ ‘group sex’ with prostitutes: Golfer spent tens of thousands on escort girls, claims Hollywood madam
By David Gardner

Tiger Woods was accused last night of spending tens of thousands of pounds on high-priced escort girls when he was away from home playing in golf tournaments.

The shamed golfer reportedly sometimes bedded two at a time, according to a notorious Hollywood madam who claimed she knew he had paid around £37,000 for call girls.

Michelle Braun told the New York Post she sent at least four escorts on pay-for-sex dates with the married father-of-two six times in 2006 and 2007.

‘He liked girl-on-girl. He had sex with them together,’ she said.

The tawdry twist comes as Tiger Woods last night admitted he was a love cheat as he announced he was taking an ‘indefinite break’ from golf.’

Read more at kcoy.com…

Prostitution Sting In Five Cities

The Pismo Beach and Grover Beach Police Departments conducted a prostitution sting in their respective cities.

Officers went online and ultimately made several arrests.

It started when officers found an online poll saying Pismo Beach was an easy place to get away with prostitution.

They took that as a challenge and got to work.

Undercover officers from the Pismo Beach and Grover Beach Police Departments set up their sting at two un-named hotels Sunday.

Their mission was to lure in the people they suspected were involved in prostitution. “Each location was also equipped with audio and video surveillance and the subjects that were arrested responded to the hotel,” says Detective Chris Trimble of the Pismo Beach Police Department.

Officers used phone numbers found in advertisements on Craigslist and in some newspaper ads.

Detective Trimble says in most cases they were disguised as ads for massages or companionship.

Four women were arrested for solicitation of prostitution.

Read more at The Orange County Register…

Massage parlor ordered to close
Lake Forest Bodycentre violated state and local laws, officials said.
By ERIKA I. RITCHIE

A Superior Court judge agreed with the city of Lake Forest to shut down a day spa, saying that it has a history of providing sex for pay, is a public nuisance and has violated city code and state laws, officials said today.

The judge also found that the way ownership changed were shams. Ownership of the spa was transferred several times within the family. The judge said he does not recognize them as valid changes in ownership

City officials today call their win in this lawsuit against Lake Forest Bodycentre significant and say it bodes well for the city’s current efforts to clear out medical marijuana dispensaries now operating illegally in the city.

“This case is significant for the city on several levels,” said Jeffrey Dunn, a partner with Best, Best & Krieger who led the litigation. “The judge’s ruling underscores the city’s right and obligation to close businesses that are in violation of the law, create a public nuisance or are prohibited by the city’s municipal code. Whether it’s illegal drug distribution or a sex-for-pay business they are subject to court order to close as they create a public nuisance.”

Read more at Bloomberg.com…

Craigslist Not Responsible for Sex-For-Hire Ads, Judge Rules
By Andrew M. Harris

Craigslist won dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, that accused the classified ads Web site of creating a public nuisance by providing a forum for prostitution services.

U.S. District Judge John F. Grady in Chicago threw out the lawsuit filed by Sheriff Tom Dart, finding that the site was only a conduit for others to publish the ads and wasn’t legally responsible for their content.

“Sheriff Dart may continue to use Craigslist’s website to identify and pursue individuals who post allegedly unlawful content,” Grady said in a 20-page decision posted on the court’s electronic docket yesterday. “But he cannot sue Craigslist for their conduct.”

An interesting article about the online pay-for-sex scene. Read more at redOrbit.com…

Internet Fuels Virtual Subculture For Sex Trade

The Internet has spawned a virtual subculture of “johns” who share information electronically about prostitution, potentially making them harder to catch, according to a new study co-authored by a Michigan State University criminologist.

The research by MSU’s Thomas Holt and Kristie Blevins of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte challenges the common perception that sex customers act alone and do not interact for fear of reprisal or scorn. The study appears in the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography.

Holt, assistant professor of criminal justice, said today’s Web-savvy johns use the Internet to solicit prostitutes and to provide each other with warnings of prostitution hot zones and stings, which can hamper the efforts of law enforcement officials.

But the more police become familiar the johns’ Web activities, the more it can help them zero in on the perpetrators, Holt added.

“The growth of these deviant subcultures has made it more difficult for law enforcement,” said Holt, who has helped police devise prostitution stings. “On the other hand, it gives us a new opportunity to use the way the offenders communicate to better target their activities.”

The study analyzed prostitution Web forums in 10 U.S. cities with the highest rates of prostitution arrests: Atlanta; Baltimore; Chicago; Dayton, Ohio; Elizabeth, N.J.; Forth Worth, Texas; Hartford, Conn.; Inglewood, Calif.; Las Vegas; and Memphis, Tenn.

In the Web forums, the johns provide detailed information on the location of sexual services on the streets and indoors, as well as ways to identify specific providers, information on costs and personal experiences with providers.

The open nature of the forums led the johns to carefully disguise their discussions with a unique language, or argot, based largely on code and acronyms. This argot may help johns and sex workers to avoid legal sanctions and any social stigma associated with participating in the sex trade, the researchers said.

Read more at Petaluma360.com…

6 nabbed during sex sting at massage parlors

Six people were arrested last week for prostitution-related offenses during a sting operation by the Petaluma Police Department.

After receiving complaints from neighboring businesses, residents and some disgruntled customers during the past year, undercover police officers went to five local massage parlors on Thursday and Friday to find out if they were soliciting customers for sex. The officers were solicited for sex at three of them: Pine Tree Massage, Moon Light Massage, and at a private residence, said Lt. Tim Lyons.

The officers arrested Abby Dancer, 50, of Petaluma at the Second Street residence for solicitation of prostitution. Two Los Angeles residents were nabbed at Moon Light Massage: Mi R. Downing, 43, for residing in a house of prostitution, and Son C. Cho, 52, for solicitation of prostitution.

…

Search warrants were served at the time of the arrests to obtain additional evidence. This enabled officers to obtain detailed customer lists, phone numbers and payment information, Lyons said.

All of the suspects were arrested, booked and released on a citation to appear in court. The police department’s code-enforcement officer will be following up on local ordinance violations, and will be contacting property owners, Lyons said.

“The city is experiencing an increase in massage businesses conducting illegal activity,” he added. “Three years ago, the department was aware of just one business conducting prostitution, (but) today there are at least seven that the department is investigating.”