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.

No idea how this fellow got into this mess, but it is a reminder for men to not get too close to the industry once he made the decision to patronize escorts.  Read the whole story at The Orange County Register.

Chiropractor who helped disguise brothels gets probation
Los Angeles man posed as owner of businesses that served as front for prostitution.
By ANDREW GALVIN

SANTA ANA — A Los Angeles man was sentenced to three years probation, with the requirement that he serve six months of home confinement, for his role in assisting an operator of brothels that posed as legitimate businesses, federal prosecutors said.

The man was the least culpable of four defendants in the case, said Carmen R Luege, an assistant U.S. attorney.

The man, a chiropractor, obtained business licenses and posed as the owner of businesses that a woman  used as a front for the brothels, Luege said. The businesses, which advertised services such as massage therapy, tanning and chiropractic adjustments, were located in Baldwin Park and Inglewood.

He was paid about $500 a week for his services, according to court records.

The woman, a native of Korea, invested profits from her brothels in Los Angeles and Orange counties and in Dallas, Tex.