Joliet police sting targets sex trade
By Brian Stanley bstanley@stmedianetwork.com February 15, 2012 7:34PM
Tactical Officer Jeff German uses a cell phone to contact a prostitute advertising online. | Brian Stanley~Sun-Times Media
‘Johns’ swept up, too
JOLIET — The only light in the dark room comes from a TV screen showing the main room of the hotel suite as seen from a hidden camera against the wall.
As “Amber” nods, the man who’s been talking with her counts out $45 and puts it on the table. She gives another signal, and the half-dozen tactical officers who’ve been watching the screen move down the hall and walk into the suite.
“Joliet police. You’re under arrest for soliciting a prostitute,” they declare.
As the “reversal” for Operation: Room Service II, tactical officers set up online ads advertising prostitution for “Amber” and “Lacey” on thebackpage.com. Two West Side motels allowed police to use their businesses to arrest “johns” looking to pay money for sex.
“Sexy, blond(sic), ready to play.” Amber offered a chance to come out of the cold to spend time with a woman who was “gorgeous and skillful with real technique.”
The undercover work isn’t a usual duty for patrol Officer Shawn Wascher, who received dozens of calls and text messages Thursday after Amber’s ad was posted online.
“I’m being deceptive, which (bothers) me because I don’t like to lie,” she said. The nasty looks she usually receives when the bust goes down aren’t enjoyable either.
Nevertheless, she doesn’t feel remorse when someone is caught breaking the law.
Wascher and local defense attorney Steve Haney agreed the biggest punishment an alleged john faces is having his arrest publicized.
Haney said prosecutors usually seek alternative punishments for first-time offenders before the charges are brought to trial.
“It’s a relatively unusual defense to (accuse) the police of entrapment and make the admission you actively committed a crime but show you had no predisposition to do so until you were cajoled into it by the police,” Haney said.
It would be difficult for anyone who posted or answered an online ad to convince a judge or jury they were not looking to pay for sex before the officer came along, he said.
In addition to the ticket and fine, those arrested also would have their cars towed, incurring a $500 impound fee.
Wascher and narcotics Officer KateLynn Miller (“Lacey”) took turns returning phone calls in the hotel room they’d decorated with some feminine props. They had to make it look believable that a “working girl” was really staying in the suite. With varying rates and requested services — one man planned to bring his girlfriend — Wascher used a notepad to keep track of each conversation.
“When it rains it pours, and then it will be dead for two hours,” Miller said.
Miller said the brief length of the sting made it “less risky (than) the waiting game of a narcotics investigation, but talking to the suspects is exactly the same. It’s all about having the gift of gab.”
Miller’s experience with drug crimes was a boon when a man came in and hinted he’d compensate her with drugs instead of cash. She played along until the offer was made, and police say they found Ecstasy, cocaine and marijuana in his jacket when he was searched. Ted A. Gretz, 43, of Minooka, was arrested on felony narcotics possession charges.
During the operation, 11 people were arrested for soliciting a prostitute, a 19-year-old woman was charged with prostitution, and Marcus Price, 27, was arrested on a charge of pimping. Twelve vehicles were impounded following those arrests.
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Updated: March 17, 2012 8:15AM
JOLIET — Two of the guys sitting at the desks are sending text messages on their cell phones, the other two are on their computers looking at websites displaying scantily clad women.
The scene might not seem out of place in a college dorm room. But these men — Joliet police officers — have guns, Tasers and body armor.
Inside the police station’s tactical room, the officers are scouring
thebackpage.com for sex ads, cross-referencing the numbers listed with the ads.
They come across titles such as “Double the fun” and “Cutie with a big bootie.”
Officer Jeff German checks a list of phone numbers already investigated during Operation: Room Service II. He calls across the room to Sgt. John Stefanski, who’s looking over recent arrests at his own desk.
Stefanski asks German for the number and name on one particular ad and takes a disposable cell phone from a manila envelope. He dials.
“Hi. You got time for me in an hour?” he asks in a voice reminiscent of actor James Woods’ sleazier roles.
Stefanski smiles as he says he always brings enough money and doesn’t like to talk specifics over the phone. The rendezvous is set and the tactical unit prepares to make its first arrest of the night.
‘These things tend to cycle’
Operation: Room Service II was handled almost identically to last year’s sting targeting prostitutes who use local hotels and the “johns,” the customers looking to buy sex. The first sting, which netted 33 arrests in February 2011, was prompted by calls from local hotel managers and owners.
“It was an effective operation, but these things tend to cycle, and it’s become a problem that we needed to address again,” Stefanski said.
For the sting, ads for both “in-calls” where the client goes to meet the prostitute or “out-calls” where the prostitute comes to meet the client were posted each day on thebackpage.com. The ads did not mention sex, but mentioned “relaxation” and “pleasure” along with “150/hr.”
While some may view sex-for-money as a victimless crime, Stefanski said, local motels complain it’s “a nusiance.” Drugs are usually involved.
“It’s not good for the business of the hotel to have girls victimizing themselves like this,” he said.
The arrest
But it isn’t a hotel room where Stefanski is led to for the night’s first encounter. It’s an apartment just outside Joliet city limits.
While the officers still hold “police powers” in Joliet Township, they’re apprehensive about sending Stefanski in to do the deal where his backup could be spotted too soon.
Worse, there could be “someone waiting to rob him, which regularly happens when someone thinks they’re going to meet a prostitute,” officer Aaron Bandy said.
As another cop circles the building to hold the door open, Stefanski is buzzed in to meet “Unique,” who advertised using cell phone photos of herself wearing tight pants in front of a bathroom mirror.
“The crime occurs when she agrees to have sex for money,” Stefanski said.
He is inside for only about a minute before he calls for everyone to come in.
The 31-year-old woman sits in handcuffs on an armchair and watches as officers search the apartment. It appears she intended to take him into a candle-lit bedroom for sex. Her four children — ages 13, 10, 9, and 8 — are watching TV in the next room.
The woman tells Stefanski she doesn’t sell drugs and has been looking for other work since getting laid off from her job.
“I got to pay the rent somehow,” she said.
Unique is arrested but told she will be released on a recognizance bond because she had no previous prostitution arrests. Previous arrests would have turned the misdemeanor into a felony.
The officers don’t find any drugs and they are just as relieved when her record comes back clean because she’s been unable to find anyone willing to watch her children if she had to go down to the station.
“You learn who your friends are when you need them,” Unique says and laughs.
She is released from the handcuffs and sits down at a table while Stefanski completes the complaint form.
Unique is warned of the consquences if she is arrested for prostitution again and remains calm. But is upset to learn her cell phone will be seized.
She allows officers to search the contact list, where approximately 125 people are listed as “BP (Backpage)” clients with their names and information the kinds of encounters they paid for.
The cops get back in their cars, and that’s when German receives another text message to start the process all over again.
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