Reads more at MyEyewitnessNews…

12 Arrested in Prostitution Sting by Memphis Police
by Allison Sossaman

The Memphis Police Department staged an undercover prostitution sting this weekend. More than a dozen women were arrested for prostitution near a school or church. Detectives with the MPD’s Organized Crime Unit conducted these undercover operations overnight Saturday and into Sunday morning.

Garland Paige says he hears about a lot of stuff going on around his neighborhood near Hollywood and Chelsea.

“This is a high crime area,” Paige said. “A lot of things go on at nighttime here, lots of shootings stuff like that.”

Just blocks away from elementary schools, he says prostitution is a big problem. He’s glad to hear police are cracking down.

“Makes me feel good,” Paige said. “Because I’ve got little grandkids out here, and they’ll be out here at night playing.”

Undercover officers posed as decoys in several areas around the city. According to the affidavits, these 12 women were all willing to have sex for money, and they were all within a mile and a half of a church or school.

Read more at myeyewitnessnews.com…

Promise of Sex Leads To Northaven Murder
by Bridget Lovelle

Sheriff’s deputies say a meeting with a prostitute led to the November 19, 2009 robbery and murder of a man in Northaven.

A nineteen year-old man and a 17 year-old girl were arrested by Sheriff’s detectives just before 5:00 p.m. Tuesday night, November 23, 2009.

Detectives say sometime around 7:30 p.m. on November 19, 2009, a 48 year-old Memphis man was found shot to death in the front seat of his car.

Detectives say the arrested man planned to lure Collins to the neighborhood to have sex with the teenage girl. After the deceased met the girl at an abandoned home in the neighborhood, the suspect robbed the man and shot him inside his Buick Skylark, and he died there.

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.

I really like how he denial is worded, so I have highlighted it, below.  Read the whole story at WMCTV.com…

Memphis stripper claims she was framed in undercover sting
By Jason Miles

Exotic dancer Ellen Lensing says she’s not a prostitute, and claims she was framed by Memphis police.

The 20-year-old was arrested late Wednesday night during an undercover sting at Babes of Babylon on Brooks Road.

Police say she agreed to have sex for $50, but Lensing says she offered four VIP dances for $100.

“I want to hear my voice say anything about money for sex, ’cause I don’t do that in the club, outside the club…none of that,” said Lensing. “I just had a baby two months ago and haven’t started back doing anything sexually yet.”

She says she believes politicians are on a crusade to clean up strip clubs and that police will do their bidding – even if it means framing anyone who gets in their way.

Read the whole story at The Commercial Appeal…

Memphis police crack down on prostitutes
Undercover officers arrest 20 across city
By Lawrence Buser

Undercover Memphis police units targeting street-level prostitution arrested 20 women in the early morning hours Saturday in areas throughout the city with some tricks of their own.

At Breedlove and Vollintine in North Memphis, a 46-year-old-woman was arrested and charged with prostitution near a church or school after this exchange with an undercover decoy officer:

Defendant: “What’s up? I don’t know you. You might be the police.”

Decoy: “You might be the police. I’m not.”

Defendant: “Cross your heart to God you’re not the police?”

The decoy officer then made a motion on his chest and when Lewis got into his car and agreed to perform sex for $15 she was arrested.

Looking for manlove has its risks, and some surprising revelations. Read more at WREG.com…

Police Employee Caught Selling Sex
by Shaun Chaiyabhat

Undercover cops on a sex for sale sting in a Midtown park caught a police employee behind bars.

Overton Park is one of the city’s most popular parks, but it has a a not-so-hidden secret: it’s one place where men go to meet other men for sex. This time, undercover cops were called by someone who was fed up with “aggressive prostitutes”. Prostitution there is so well known, many Memphians even have nicknames for the walking trail where hookers troll.

“We come during the day and we try to get out of here before it gets dark, which is sad, but it’s just kind of the way it is,” says Graham Kemper who is among many visitors to the park who expect peace during the day and crime to come at night. However, the latest arrest happened during the day.

…

A 29 year-old man works part-time for the Memphis Police Department. Cops say he walked up to an undercover cop and offered sex for 50 bucks. The man is not a cop, he’s a civilian traffic aide. But to folks who want to enjoy the park titles don’t matter.

Read the whole story at The Memphis Commercial Appeal…

Memphis police crack down on prostitution
Communities damaged by ‘victimless crime’
By Christopher Conley

If you think prostitution is a victimless crime, you probably don’t live near one of its epicenters.

Talk to the victims: women who can’t leave the house without being propositioned by “johns” or approached by pimps; legitimate business people who watch potential customers drive off, afraid to stop.

And “minor” crimes such as prostitution and the attendant drug use are a magnet for serious crimes, violent crimes that not only subvert the quality of life for Memphis, but sometimes put citizens in harm’s way.

“Invariably, areas known for prostitution also have reputations for offenses such as thefts, robberies, drugs and assaults,” said Lt. Chris Moffatt, Memphis Police Organized Crime Unit vice team supervisor.

That’s why the Memphis Police Department has launched a massive crackdown this year on drug/prostitution hot spots, culminating in Operation Clean Sweep last week in which 64 people were indicted — prostitutes, dope dealers, pimps. The operation also netted four Memphis Police officers accused of preying on the street walkers, kidnapping and raping them, often while on duty.

Since the beginning of the year, more than 250 prostitutes, johns, pimps and dope dealers have been locked up — at least for a while.

Read the whole story at WMCTV.com….

Police use advertisements in prostitution bust
By Kontji Anthony

Memphis police expanded their efforts to stop illegal prostitution over the weekend, taking suspects into custody thanks to advertisements found online and in local publications.

Six people were charged after the undercover operation.

“It evolves as technology has evolved and they’re getting smarter with it,” Sgt. Lambert Ross of the Memphis Police Department said. “So we’ve got to do the same thing.”

After noticing new sex ad trends, investigators not only scanned the internet, including Craigslist personals and an escort website, they even found illegal sex ads in legitimate newspapers, including the Memphis Flyer and the Commercial Appeal.

One ad goes so far as to promote a new venue opening its doors on Winchester. So, investigators answered the ads.

“The aggressiveness of the vice officers on the streets is pushing more people into trying to do thing that are more subtle,” Ross said.

Undercover officers nabbed one woman in Unit 3 of the Winchester Office Plaza, located right across the street from a church with a school. Because most of the rendezvous happened near either a church or school, they carry a mandatory $1,000 and a week in jail, if convicted.”

“That also depends on prior arrests they’ve had as far as prostitution,” Ross said.

The six women were arrested on Airways, Poplar, Sycamore View and Winchester.

“Locally, to advertise private modeling sessions in a daily paper, that’s what really just catches you,” Ross said.

Ross added it’s no secret the ‘oldest profession’ will keep going on, but he says Memphis Police will keep working to stop it.

Memphis police let their fingers do the walking on Craigslist, and decide to arrest what they find!  The Memphis Flyer reports…

You’ve Got Male!
Memphis police bust online prostitutes
BY BIANCA PHILLIP

In a recent Craigslist posting under “Erotic Services,” a 22-year-old East Memphis woman named Kim promises to be “sexy, clean, [and provide] low rates.” Another ad features a photo of a nude woman with the line: “Call me so we can set up a secret rendezvous.”

Such ads, featuring female, male, and transgender prostitutes, are uploaded to local Craigslist listings almost every 15 minutes. And though it’s impossible to catch everyone who posts, the Memphis Police Department (MPD) does keep an eye on Internet prostitutes. Just last week, 12 women were arrested in an online prostitution sting.

The MPD’s vice team spent August 29th and 30th conducting an undercover investigation on the free listing website. Posing as johns, officers set up meetings with the women in area hotel rooms. The women were then arrested for prostitution when they offered officers sex in exchange for money.

“We’ve found that the same problems that go with prostitution on the street occur in the hotel [rooms] that these girls rent,” says Chris Moffatt with the MPD’s Organized Crime Unit Vice Team. “You still have pimps. You still have drug dealers. You still have violence. It’s no different, except now they’re online.”

Nine of the 12 women arrested in the sting were under 30 years old, but Moffatt says the online ads aren’t limited to younger women.

“A lot of the girls we’ve arrested online, we’ve also arrested on the street,” Moffatt says. “Some of them work exclusively off the Internet, and they tend to think of themselves as higher class.

“There are some who work both the street and the Internet,” Moffatt continues. “They’ll charge one price on the street, but when they put an [online] ad out, they’ll triple the price.”

Whether prostitutes use the Internet or work the street the old-fashioned way, most of them set up face-to-face meetings with clients in local hotels. In the most recent sting, women were arrested at the Airport Inn on Brooks, a Motel 6 on Sycamore View, the Comfort Suites on Thousand Oaks, and various other hotels.

More Craigslist antics.  WMCTV reports…

Craigslist prostitution crackdown in Memphis

Memphis police say recent prostitution stings have forced many hookers off the street corner to sell their services on the information superhighway.

Prostitutes are using Craigslist.org and other sites to hook up with potential clients.

“Well, everything is online now,” said Lt. Chris Moffatt with MPD’s Vice Team. “And this is just another service, if you can call it that, that’s moved online.”

Police busted a dozen women this past weekend at motels across Memphis.

Sisters Serena and Lynette Cremens were among those arrested. Detectives say both siblings offered sexual acts for money from a room at Motel 6 on Sycamore View, where they agreed to meet with an undercover officer who answered their classified ad on Craigslist.

A look on Craigslist reveals hundreds of ads from Memphis-area women. Some feature very racy personal photos. One ad read “almost any and everything is negotiable.”

“Read between the lines, call the number, and meet the girl,” said Moffatt.

He says he’s seen many of these same women working the streets.”It’s just that they put an ad on the Internet.”

Police say they wish there was a way to limit the kinds of ads posted on Craigslist and similar sites. They say they find the same types of ads in newspapers.

It’s proof that the world’s oldest profession continues to change with the times.

“It’s how they make their money,” Moffatt said.