19 arrested in prostitution sting | panama, city, florida - The News Herald

19 arrested in prostitution sting | panama, city, florida - The News Herald

S. BRADY CALHOUN / News Herald Writer
PANAMA CITY — The blond in the blue top and tight, tiny gray shorts walked back and forth on the sidewalk of U.S. 98 on Thursday.

If you watched closely, you could see the trembles and uncertainty in her movements. She’s nervous — and with good reason; this was her first night as a “prostitute.”

Sgt. Manny Gonzalez and Capt. Mark Aviles of the Panama City Police Department were sitting in an unmarked car nearby, watching and listening to her conversations with potential customers as part of a two-night prostitution sting.

“I swear to God I’m a good dude,” one john said as he tried to get her into his car. He wanted to take her to an ATM and then somewhere else for sex. Since she is an undercover officer, what she wanted was for him to drive to a nearby hotel room, where other officers were waiting to pounce.

“I’ll make it an extra $10,” he said, which raises the price for sex with her to $60. Minutes later he’s in handcuffs and headed to the Bay County Jail.

Soon, she’s making the deal with one customer right after another.

“Sometimes they’ll just line up and wait,” said investigator Chris Nichol.

Each time officers do these stings they get johns from all walks of life: doctors, business leaders, preachers and plenty of married men. The ages range from teenagers to old men with oxygen tanks. They ask for a variety of services and they pay sometimes very little. One man offered 50 cents for a sex act, Gonzalez recalled. Even though he was cheap, it was still a crime and he still got arrested, he said.

“Cash is cash,” Gonzalez added.



Victimless crime?

For two nights last week undercover officers with the Panama City Police Department posed as johns and prostitutes to find and arrest the people involved in the illegal sex trade on the west side of Panama City.

They nabbed 19 people and made a total of 23 charges in a little over 10 hours. The most common charge was solicitation, a misdemeanor. However, these busts sometimes lead to drug stashes, felons on probation and ongoing criminal enterprises. Of the 19 people arrested, one was charged with violation of probation, one with carrying a concealed firearm and two others were charged with attempting to purchase crack.

Prostitution cases almost never go to court and usually end in a fine for those involved. This kind of sting takes money and manpower, and some members of the public can be critical of what is sometimes viewed as a mutually beneficial business that only harms the people involved.

“The perception is that these are victimless crimes,” said Deputy Chief Robert Colbert. “Nothing is further from the truth. The true victims of the crimes are citizens that live in this area and have to watch this go on in their neighborhoods.”

Police officials added they sometimes get calls from upset parents because their children, who were playing in their neighborhood, happened upon people having sex in cars in the area. Or they saw the activity while waiting at bus stops.

Aviles recalled the mother of a 13-year-old girl who got stopped while walking to a gas station near her home.

The man that stopped her wanted to know if she was a hooker, Aviles said. It was 3 p.m. in the afternoon.

Business owners are affected, too, Colbert said, because this kind of activity drives legitimate business away from the area. During the two-night detail several citizens who saw what was happening thanked the officers for doing something about the problem, Aviles said.

Officers have two strong weapons in dealing with this issue, Colbert said.

“The best way you can deal with it is through saturation,” he said. “In the 1980s it was heavy in the Harrison Avenue area. The department focused a lot of time and lot of resources on it and there was a significant reduction of these crimes in the Harrison Avenue area.”

Of course, the hookers and Johns didn’t stop. They moved to the string of hotels and neighborhoods between Gulf Coast Community College and the St. Andrews area — the area officers are now saturating.

The second weapon is more public.

“We publish the names of individuals who commit these crimes,” Colbert said. “You get compliance through any legal means you can and embarrassment is sometimes the vehicle to get your point across.”



Busting the prostitutes

While female officers went undercover as hookers, a male officer posed as a John. His vehicle was under audio and video surveillance and he had little trouble finding girls who wanted him to pay for sex.

Undercover officers have to be careful. They can’t ask for the illegal services; the illegal services have to be offered. But on Thursday, that wasn’t very difficult.

One of the first arrests of the night was an older woman police know well. She’s been on the streets for a long time and acts as a mom to the other working girls, officers said. Officers may pity her, but they have also told her, multiple times, that if she keeps hooking they’ll keep arresting her.

When Gonzalez drove by and rolled down his window, she started shouting that the nice man — really an undercover officer — was just going to buy her some fast food.

“I’m hungry,” she said. “Why are you doing this to me, Manny?”

Minutes later the team had a fix on another girl.

“Speaking of prostitutes, there’s one right there,” Gonzalez said.

She was wearing pigtails and chatting on a cellphone. When the car drove by, she blew a kiss. If this were a movie, she would be gorgeous, but in real life she’s ragged and old before her time. She made the deal quick and, just like the older woman, was handcuffed and taken to jail.

“That was an easy one,” Gonzalez said.

Anyone who thinks this is a victimless crime has never dealt with a prostitute, the officers said. They all have serious health problems and addictions to meth and crack, officers said. Any cop can tell you a story about arresting a young hooker and then watching year after year as the drugs and the lifestyle destroy them. She’ll get beaten, she’ll get raped and she’ll keep coming back until she’s decayed and dying, they said. Gonzalez has seen them working the streets with casts on their arms.

During a strategy meeting before the sting, Gonzalez and Aviles emphasized there would be no warnings during the sting. No second chances.

“We’re trying to make a statement,” Gonzalez said. Aviles added: “Everybody goes to jail.”



Originally published 4/25/11


lulalane
6:40 AM on April 25, 2011

Cause and effect! YES! Post their names, then they may become fired from their jobs and then more job openings!

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Score: 6
annagypsey
6:42 AM on April 25, 2011

a little too soon after Easter, but what the heck Brady, it was well written and it brought back a lot of painful memories of when I remodeled a house on Palmetto and 19th Street. When the motel across the street was owned by Americans there where rookie police who stayed at the motel. At one time, there was a police substation. but now, mid-easterners run it and they won't allow the police to stay, all they care about is money.
we saw the whole show, prostitutes walking to the convenient store, pimps beating them, one lady would come out to the open field next to the motel and spray herself with bug-spray (everyday).
our house was broken into three times. tools are an easy item to pawn. needless to say, we sold that house and never looked back!

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Score: -14
rockmore
6:46 AM on April 25, 2011

This is an absolute example of a corrupt society, jack boot mentality, moral legislation, and invasion of privacy. Just what a conservative would intrepid our Constitution to condone. Hey cop's, go after real criminals, those that steal the life savings from senior citizens, like Rick Scott.

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Score: 11
panhandlepete
6:58 AM on April 25, 2011

This article is an excellent argument for the legalization of prostitution. Legalization would take it off of the streets, allow law enforcement to better spend their time doing more important things, and allow for some level of safety for both the prostitutes and their customers. Stings like these do little or nothing to solve this problem, and are akin to trying to close a ruptured artery with a band-aid.

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Score: 15
buggerthat
7:13 AM on April 25, 2011

So a couple of times a year, the cops make a big show of cracking down on prostitution. In two or three weeks, it will be back to business as usual.

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Score: 3
4d5rulz
7:41 AM on April 25, 2011

Hey Brady how much did this cost in time and labor for all involved from the prep, sting, booking and jail costs? Wasting money in the wishing well thinking you can reform a hooker that does not want help anymore then you can a homeless person who chooses that lifestyle. They admit these woman come back again and again so it is a waste of money.

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Score: 20
floridacracker49
7:53 AM on April 25, 2011

The war on prostitution is older than the war on drugs. They won't win either one.

4 replies