LAKELAND – www.myfoxtampabay.com – They came looking to be paid for sex. But it didn’t turn out the way they expected. They ended being the ones who had to pay to get out of jail.
The Polk Sheriff County Sheriff’s Office launched a sting over the weekend called Operation Hot Date. Undercover detectives arrested 34 people, including alleged prostitutes and their pimps who were advertising on Craigslist. They came to Polk from Tampa, Orlando, and out the state.
At a press conference on Monday, Sheriff Grady Judd called Craigslist a one-stop shop for all your prostitution needs.
“This is a public health issue. We know historically that prostitutes spread HIV and AIDS,” Judd said.
Undercover detectives said the women negotiated prices for sex acts and agreed to come to a location in Polk.
Recently, Craigslist said that it’s tightening its rules on ads with sexual content. In May, site administrators vowed to review submission more closely and replaced the erotic services category with an adult category.
FOX 13 contacted Craigslist. A spokesperson told us, “Adult service ads on Craigslist are dwarfed in volume, and tame in content compared to other Central Florida advertising venues that have not adopted Craigslist’s strict review standards.”
Judd is not convinced.
“Craigslist… continues to facilitate prostitution and they derive proceeds from prostitution,” he said.
Craigslist charges $10 for every adult services ad placed. Site administrators say they manually review each posting before it appears on the site.
The site took aim at the sheriff saying, “It would be surprising if the Sheriff has chosen to ignore the larger and much more explicit adult service advertising venues operating throughout his jurisdiction.”
Four men were arrested. Detectives said John Frese is a pimp and came from Lakeland to get his share of the profits. Devon Chambers is also charged.
Judd says the crack down is not over. His detectives have the women’s black books and blackberries with the names of their clients, most of whom are married.
Judd says it is not going to be pretty when their wives get a call from the sheriff’s office telling them what their husbands have been up to.