Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 19, 1993 TAG: 9311190073
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They were fined $250 and given suspended jail sentences - the usual punishment for a crime that shows no signs of decreasing in the city.
In just three nights of work in recent months, police arrested nearly 100 potential customers of prostitutes, according to Lt. Bobby Lugar of the Roanoke Police Department's vice bureau.
"It's a secondary way to go after the prostitution problem," Lugar said of the "reverse sting" operations in which female officers pose as prostitutes.
Normally, police send undercover customers into areas known for prostitution and arrest the women who approach slow-moving traffic and try to sell sex.
But occasionally, as they did in September, authorities turn the tables and go after the steady stream of men that keeps the prostitution business thriving.
Most of the men who appeared Thursday in Roanoke General District Court pleaded guilty. On the night of Sept. 23, they had driven down Campbell Avenue, just past the City Market, and struck up conversations with women standing on street corners.
Two of the women were undercover police officers, who listened to offers of money for sex then told the men they were under arrest.
Lugar said the police officers who pose as prostitutes do not have to wear short skirts or fishnet stockings. Some men assume that any woman standing on certain street corners is a prostitute, as long as she isn't wearing a uniform.
The undercover prostitutes always wait for the men to approach them and initiate talk about sex, Lugar said. The conversations usually are recorded, and other police officers waiting nearby make arrests after a deal is struck or money exchanged.
A change in state law that took effect July 1 makes it easier to convict prostitution customers.
The earlier version of the law focused on prostitutes, but an amendment carries a reference to "any person who offers money" for a sexual act. Customers face the same punishment as prostitutes - up to 12 months in jail.
Although first-time offenders are seldom jailed, Betty Jo Anthony, chief assistant commonwealth's attorney, said the humiliation of going to court often acts as a deterrent.
"I definitely think that has some impact and serves as an example to other people," Anthony said. Some men ask that their cases be tried in closed courtrooms, or that they be heard last so as to escape courtroom spectators, she said. Those requests are denied.
Although the fear of AIDS apparently has done little to reduce prostitution, all prostitutes and their customers who are convicted are tested for HIV.
Another new law allows authorities to seize the automobiles of repeat offenders who use them to pick up prostitutes. Police are keeping a list of the men they arrest but have yet to find a second-time offender.
Of the 30 men arrested Sept. 23, 17 were from outside the Roanoke Valley. Some of them also were charged with possession of cocaine or marijuana.
Of the two men who contested the charges Thursday, both were convicted. One said he stopped to talk after his "male ego got the best of him."
The other man, who had offered to pay $25 for oral sex, apologized to the undercover officer, seated at the prosecution table.
After being convicted, the man said he was sorry for any "bad language" or "sexual innuendo" he may have exposed the officer to.
She smiled graciously, but said nothing.
by CNB