Read the whole story at NBC Action News…

Prostitution Sting Nets 27 Arrests
by Keith King

The Independence police department has done this before and they will most likely do it again.

They have conducted prostitution stings in the past, but none they say as successful as the one last weekend.

Between Thursday and Saturday, investigators contacted people posting on line ads on popular websites like Craigslist and Backpage.

They arrested 13 men for patronizing and 14 women for prostitution. Investigators say two of the women were 5 and 6 months pregnant.

Surprise, surprise.Read more at Fox4KC.com…

Prostitution Bust Shocks Upscale Neighborhood

A 20-year-old Northland woman is in trouble for allegedly running a prostitution business out of her home, and police and residents say that they are surprised that it was happening in their neighborhood.

A woman police have identified as “Nikki Devine” was arrested Wednesday morning at her $400,000 Northland home where she lived with her two children. Authorities have not released the woman’s name and picture pending formal charges.

Police allege that the woman’s upscale address served as a selling point for her online solicitations.

“The neighborhood up north probably put some people at ease to come up to see her,” said KCMO Police Sgt. Brad Dumit. “It just appears to be a traditional escort service, illegal prostitution activities going on inside the house.”

Read the whole story at NBC Action News…

Kansas City Community Battles Prostitution
by Larry Seward

There are plans to shut down prostitution on Independence Avenue. A group of residents want offenders banned and hit with felony charges if they come back.

Along Independence Avenue, ‘women of the night’ work all hours of the day. The area boasts a historic district, scenic byway, museum, and parks. However, Adam Schieber said the northeast area is known for drugs, crime and prostitution.

“I think the whole city knows that it’s often the butt of many jokes,” Schieber said.

He and Scott Wagner are two of many fed-up residents. As president of Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood Association, Schieber hears it all, even from his next door neighbor.

“At noon on a weekday, they chased off a john and prostitute out of a back alley behind her house,” Schieber said. “We get issues like the brought up all the time.”

They believe police need help from the community. So, the neighborhood associations are proposing several ideas to city, county and state lawmakers. One proposal is called Stay Out Of Areas of Prostitution and Drugs, abbreviated SOAP and SODA. The proposal creates drug and prostitution-free zones. Offenders caught in these areas would face new felony charges.

Read the whole story at The Boston Herald…

States demand details from Craigslist on anti-prostitution screening

Attorneys general from seven states are asking online classified site Craigslist for details on how it will keep pornography and prostitution off its newly created adult services section.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and others are making the request two weeks after Craigslist agreed to eliminate its “erotic services” ads. The Web site came under intense scrutiny after a Boston man was charged with killing a masseuse he met from Craigslist online classifieds.

Craigslist has not prescreened ads in the past, but says postings in its new adult services section are reviewed before being posted.

Blumenthal says attorneys general from Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mississippi and New Hampshire signed the request asking Craigslist for more detail on the screening process.

A Craigslist attorney did not immediately return a call.

As if the crew at Craigslist has any credibility on this issue.  Looks like they have stalled and distracted for long enough, and now the long arm of the law is catching up with them.  Read the whole story at PC Magazine…

Craigslist to Review ‘Erotic Services’ with State AGs
by Chloe Albanesius

Craigslist executives will meet with the attorneys general of Connecticut, Missouri, and Illinois in New York City on Tuesday to discuss the Web site’s “Erotic Services” section.

“Craigslist is allowing advertisements for illegal activities like prostitution on its site,” Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster said in a statement. “It is blatant. It is irresponsible. It is illegal.”

Craigslist must “agree to tougher restrictions and to remove ads for illegal activities from its site,” Koster said.

Illlinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan last week demanded that Craigslist shutter Erotic Services, the latest in a series of outraged responses on the part of government officials due to the so-called “Craigslist Killer.”

Phillip Markoff was arrested recently on charges that he murdered a young girl he met through a Craigslist ad.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, meanwhile, has called on Craigslist to make specific changes to the site rather than a complete shut down.

Craigslist pledged earlier this month to update the Erotic Services section, but has no immediate plans to shut it down.

Every once in a while a working girl is on the receiving end of a very stiff criminal sentence.  Read the whole article at The Kansas City Pitch…

A walk with a former prostitute, after her five-year sentence
By David Martin

Bob Beaird, the Jackson County prosecutor from 1999 to 2002, brought felony charges against a few persistent offenders. A felony charge came with a prison sentence of up to five years.

Beaird, now a judge of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, says the get-tough initiative caused a stir on Independence Avenue and other streets where prostitutes worked. “I said, ‘Let’s see if we can put more pressure on them,’” Beaird tells me.

The Prosecutor’s Office didn’t keep a rec­ord of the five-year sentences it sought and obtained. I get the sense that it wasn’t a large number. Off the top of his head, Beaird was able to remember the name of one woman. That offender, now age 41, is currently on parole for second-degree robbery.

Another “known prostitute,” as the police refer to a veteran hooker, received a five-year sentence in 2002.

I recently enjoyed a $16.42 date with her.

…

I pull up to a house in south Kansas City that has been cut up into apartments. A middle-aged woman who outweighs me by 50 pounds is standing on the porch.

First stop is a convenience store on Prospect Avenue. Ginger (a pseudonym she chose) requests Bud Light Lime. I buy two 22-ounce bottles. For lunch, I suggest Gates. “Oh, Lord,” Ginger says, “Gates is too rich for my blood.”

Eventually, Ginger begins to relax a little. A funny, intelligent woman begins to emerge. Still, my new friend operates on a different frequency. She mentions that she has bipolar disorder.

…

Ginger says she grew up in the projects. Her mother worked at the post office. She says she got into prostitution while attending the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She liked the money. She thought of becoming a teacher, but eventually streetwalking became a career.

“There was money in this town in the ’70s, honey,” she says.

Ginger worked the main corridors of prostitution — Main Street, Troost Avenue, the West Bottoms. She was a pioneer of sorts. “See, I was one of the first bitches to start working on Independence Avenue, in ‘81.”

Ginger worked alone. “I never had a pimp. A pimp is a poor man. Sell his ass, just like I sell mine.”

For protection, she relied on her wits. She left for Oklahoma City when, in 1988, the bodies of prostitutes who worked Independence Avenue began to turn up in the Missouri River.

Violence was a constant threat. “When Terry Blair [a serial murderer captured in 2004] was out here killing the prostitutes, I wasn’t getting in the car,” Ginger says. “I’d get in the car with old men. Well, shit, I ain’t no motherfucking fool. This is my hometown. I was born and raised here. The serial killer wasn’t an old man.”

Ginger says she traded exclusively in oral sex. “I didn’t have intercourse, just blow jobs. I used condoms. I put a rubber on and get busy.” For her, the plague of the ’80s wasn’t AIDS — it was crack. Ginger says she didn’t use hard drugs. But crack addictions led other prostitutes to drop their prices to $5 and $10.

“Prostitution used to be a big business in this town,” Ginger says. “Since crack come out, it’s no money. A person might as well get a Social Security check or go to the soup kitchen or get a job. There’s not no money in this town since crack came out.” Ginger holds prostitutes with cocaine addictions in low esteem. She calls them “crackitutes.”

Customer satisfaction and all!  KSPR reports…

Man Attacks Prostitute’s Husband After Being Denied Refund
By Brad Belote

A Springfield man is charged with first-degree assault after he told police he beat up the husband of a prostitute he had hired.

Anthony E. Mello, 27, told police he hired a prostitute Sunday. When he asked for some of his money back after receiving her services, she refused. Mello told police when he tried to take his money back, she called her husband, who was waiting downstairs in a vehicle.

The woman told police that when her husband entered the residence, Mello threw her husband to the floor and punched him in the face at least six times. The woman said Mello pulled her husband by the ankles down a flight of stairs. The woman said she saw her husband’s head hit each step on the way down.

Mello told police he was brought back to the scene by his parents. During an interview with police, Mello said he “blacked out” as the husband was pushing his way past him. Mello admitted to grabbing the man and dragging him down the steps.

Police say the husband suffered severe head trauma and severe bruising.

KSPR called the escort service phone number listed in the Springfield phone book.

A woman who answered the phone says the couple was trying to rip off the customer.

She says the company does not hire any women.

Instead she says the women pay the company a fee for referrals to clients.

The woman says they can not control everything that the women do.

She says the company does not encourage or require women to solicit money for sex.

Springfield police say the same unit that handles organized crime investigates prostitution complaints.

Officer Grant Story says, “We have done numerous stings in the past but we have not received a trend of complaints on these types of businesses.”

Police say if they do receive accurate information they would respond.

Greene County Prosecutor Darrell Moore says the serious assault raises questions about the legitimacy and nature of the escort business.

Moore says the business should be looked into.