A sobering opinion piece offering data about the world’s oldest profession. The author, Christine Bott Schmuker, is a psychotherapist and coordinator of the Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma Program with Center for Child & Family Services.

Read the complete essay at The Virginia Gazette…

ESSAY: Prostitution victims
By Christine Bott

Over the last few weeks the subject of prostitution has been front and center on the Williamsburg stage. The High Street apartment arrest has illuminated the underbelly of what many call the world’s oldest profession.

Most people would not be surprised to find prostitution sprinkled within Richmond, Norfolk, Newport News or Hampton. But Williamsburg? It certainly does not seem to fit Williamsburg’s quaint, historically charmed persona. Or does it?

The Gazette article stated how much the alleged High Street prostitute charges, that she was not willing to surrender her list of male clientele to police, and that neighbors report males combing through the apartment complex at differing times of day.

Her name was printed on the front page of the paper twice in two weeks. Will the paper provide comparable transparency to the male client list that police will find on her computer?

While I in no way condone her behavior, I do want to illuminate the underreported, misunderstood and tragic other side of the debate.

Here are the facts (Farley, M., 2004, Prostitution, Trafficking, & Traumatic Stress):

• Nine out of 10 prostitutes were sexually assaulted as children.
• Nine out of 10 will be beaten physically during encounters with their men clients.
• Two out of 10 will be tortured during such encounters.
• One in 10 will die prostituting within their first three years.
• Eight out of 10 are teenage runaways.
• Nine out of 10 had no father or father-figure living at home.
• Eight out of 10 make contact with men online first.
• Eight out of 10 use drugs and alcohol.

This is less about prostitution and more about untreated childhood sexual trauma.

There is hope. I run a program at the Center for Child & Family Services called the Adult Survivors Program.

The heat is on in Pasco! Read more at The Pasco Tribune…

Prostitution sting in Pasco nets 11 arrests

An undercover operation run by the New Port Richey Police Department and the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office netted 11 prostitution arrests Friday.

The sting, which ran from noon to 8 p.m., targeted people soliciting prostitution on the west side of Pasco County, according to a news release.

All were charged with solicitation of prostitution.

Now, that’s what I call ‘day care!’ Read more at The Naperville Sun…

Day-care operator faces prostitution charge
Woman, two others used Internet, north-side hotels, police say

By SUSAN FRICK CARLMAN, BILL BIRD AND JOSH LARSEN

Officials of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on Friday initiated action to shutter a Naperville day-care home operated by a woman now facing trial for prostitution.

“We are in the process of shutting down this day-care home,” DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe said of the ABC & TLC Home Daycare business at 61 Bunting Lane in central Naperville.

The home’s operator has a state license that is in effect through Sept. 22, 2012, but “she will not be allowed to operate (the business) while the criminal case is pending,” Marlowe said.

“A conviction for prostitution would serve as a bar to holding a day-care license,” Marlowe said. Should the woman be found guilty of that charge, it would be “impossible for her to get a license,” he said.

Marlowe added the home will be formally closed early next week. It does not operate on weekends.

The 42-year-old woman and two other women were arrested Thursday at hotels on Naperville’s north side as part of an ongoing anti-vice effort by Naperville police.

Marlowe said that since July 5, 2006, the woman has had a state license to operate a day-care home, which differs from a day-care center based on the number of children for which each business provides care. The business “is licensed to care for a maximum of seven children,” Marlowe said.

…

Reached at her home Friday morning, the woman declined to discuss the arrests. A handwritten sign on her front door read, “Daycare is closed. Family emergency,” and provided the telephone number of an employee. The woman reached at that phone number said she had no information about the incident.

Police Cmdr, Mike Anders said Friday investigators “have not been at (Thoren’s) house at all as part of this investigation. We have nothing to indicate any children were placed in any harm.”

In a prepared statement, police Sgt. John McAnally related Thursday how members of the department’s Special Operations Group “conducted an investigation into subjects engaging in acts of prostitution through various Internet sites at hotels and motels on Naperville’s far north side.” Police have conducted similar investigations in recent months that have ended in other arrests.

The women “posted various services on the Internet and agreed to meet their customers at various hotels and perform sexual acts in exchange for money.” They were met in the hotels by police officers working undercover, he said.

The statement did not identify the hotels where the women were arrested. McAnally in the past has declined to name them because their owners and employees have cooperated in the police investigations.

Now, that’s what I call ‘day care!’ Read more at The Naperville Sun…

Day-care operator faces prostitution charge
Woman, two others used Internet, north-side hotels, police say

By SUSAN FRICK CARLMAN, BILL BIRD AND JOSH LARSEN

Officials of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on Friday initiated action to shutter a Naperville day-care home operated by a woman now facing trial for prostitution.

“We are in the process of shutting down this day-care home,” DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe said of the ABC & TLC Home Daycare business at 61 Bunting Lane in central Naperville.

The home’s operator has a state license that is in effect through Sept. 22, 2012, but “she will not be allowed to operate (the business) while the criminal case is pending,” Marlowe said.

“A conviction for prostitution would serve as a bar to holding a day-care license,” Marlowe said. Should the woman be found guilty of that charge, it would be “impossible for her to get a license,” he said.

Marlowe added the home will be formally closed early next week. It does not operate on weekends.

The 42-year-old woman and two other women were arrested Thursday at hotels on Naperville’s north side as part of an ongoing anti-vice effort by Naperville police.

Marlowe said that since July 5, 2006, the woman has had a state license to operate a day-care home, which differs from a day-care center based on the number of children for which each business provides care. The business “is licensed to care for a maximum of seven children,” Marlowe said.

…

Reached at her home Friday morning, the woman declined to discuss the arrests. A handwritten sign on her front door read, “Daycare is closed. Family emergency,” and provided the telephone number of an employee. The woman reached at that phone number said she had no information about the incident.

Police Cmdr, Mike Anders said Friday investigators “have not been at (Thoren’s) house at all as part of this investigation. We have nothing to indicate any children were placed in any harm.”

In a prepared statement, police Sgt. John McAnally related Thursday how members of the department’s Special Operations Group “conducted an investigation into subjects engaging in acts of prostitution through various Internet sites at hotels and motels on Naperville’s far north side.” Police have conducted similar investigations in recent months that have ended in other arrests.

The women “posted various services on the Internet and agreed to meet their customers at various hotels and perform sexual acts in exchange for money.” They were met in the hotels by police officers working undercover, he said.

The statement did not identify the hotels where the women were arrested. McAnally in the past has declined to name them because their owners and employees have cooperated in the police investigations.

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 the whole story at Macon.com…

Reports give details of undercover police raids on massage parlors
By AMY LEIGH WOMACK

Closed police files from raids at Macon massage parlors shed light on operations that undercover officers found there.

In 2008 and 2009, a series of raids targeted more than a dozen Macon-area massage parlors and spas that police suspected of being houses of prostitution. As a result, more than 20 women were arrested on various sex charges.

Seven closed Macon police case files describe how undercover police officers entered businesses and paid for massages. Costs ranged from $40 for a half-hour massage to $140 for sex.

In most cases, the officers were led to rooms where they were asked to undress. Some of them were led to showers or were bathed by women working at the massage parlors.

…

In each of the cases, the women asked the officers if they wanted additional services. In at least two cases, the women gestured that they were offering sex.

At one massage parlor, a woman asked an officer in June 2008 if he wanted other services after a 10-minute massage. When he replied that he just wanted a massage, the woman said “$40 is for the house, massage, bath and relaxation. We are extra,” according to a police report.

Some of the women touched the officers’ genitals before offering additional services.

At another massage parlor, a woman initiated a sex act on an officer against the officer’s will in July 2008. Then she stood in front of the door, keeping the officer from leaving until she was paid for the act, according to one report.

The heat is on in West Midtown, New York City.  Read more at NJ.com…

West New York police to pimps and prostitutes: No more sex!
By Karina Arrue

Coy S. Gordon expected it to be a normal night of work — a transsexual sex romp with a “john” for anywhere from $100 to $180. But like his clients, Gordon got more than he bargained for one night last week.

Gordon, 42, was arrested by a West New York undercover cop.

If the 6-foot-2 Gordon — who was wearing a yellow splash negligee and 5-inch heels when she was arrested — had been reading The Jersey Journal lately, it wouldn’t have come as a big surprise.

Gordon is the latest in a string of arrests by West New York police, who received an anonymous complaint about her a few weeks ago, officials said.

The tip was corroborated by an advertisement at backpage.com in which Gordon, who goes by the name “Tasty and Silky the New Milk Ms. Society,” offered “transsexual escort” services for a steep price — $100 for 15 minutes, $140 for 30 minutes and $180 for an hour, police said.

Since Dec. 31, 25 people have been arrested in West New York as a result of eight sting operations. Of the eight busts, Gordon is the first that used the Internet to spur business. West New York police say the seven other times they received a tip about people handing out business cards in the street.

The arrests stem from “community outcry,” says Police Director Albert Bringa, who took the helm of the department Dec. 2.

Local police hunt online sources for working girls. Read more at WAVY.com…

Craigslist prostitution sting nabs 10
Women accused of offering sex for money online

Ten women were busted in Newport News for allegedly offering sex in exchange for money on the popular Website Craigslist.

Newport News detectives, responding to several complaints, conducted an operation on Tuesday, from 2 p.m to midnight, making contact with women advertising thier services on Craigslist.

It was rather obvious says Newport News Police spokesperson Lou Thurston.

“You go to Craigslist to the page for Hampton Roads and you look under services and there’s the word adult.”

Read more at The News-Press…

Lee County deputies bust brothel in Bonita Springs

Lee County deputies investigating a possible crime in Bonita Springs didn’t find what they were looking for but instead stumbled upon a brothel.

When deputies arrived they met a prostitute and found several men playing cards.

“This is a common method for South and Central American prostitution organizations use to indicate payment for the services of a prostitute,” the arrest report states.

Read more at ABQJournal.com…

Alleged Escort Service Busted
By Rozanna M. Martinez

Detectives responded to an online ad for “Rocky Mountain’s Sexiest Redhead” that included explicit photos of a woman calling herself Tina. An undercover detective called the listed phone number and a meeting was arranged at a hotel room, according to a criminal complaint.

When the undercover detective arrived he and a woman negotiated a deal for sex at a rate of $200. Arresting officers entered the room when the money was exchanged, according to the complaint.

Police found prescription pills in a bottle inside the bathroom. The woman told police that she had found the narcotics and was unsure what they were, according to the complaint.

A short time later, another man came to the room to check on the woman. He told police that he was aware she would give men massages and have sex with them, according to a criminal complaint filed.

The man said he placed ads for the woman and another woman on the Internet.