I thought I should post the letter here. My heart goes out to this girl.
I received an e-mail from someone named "Patricia", who asked me to publish her story. Here it is, unedited.
I hope this might help some to get an idea of what they might get themselves into, or make them realize the importance of being extremely careful about screening your clients and knowing the surroundings where you will provide services, so as to not make your case worse.
Recently, I was arrested in an escort prostitution sting. I have been doing research on-line to see if I can help my case and I found this website. I decided to share my story so if there are females working as an escort or contemplating doing it, they may know what they are up against.
I am 20 year old college student in the Upstate, NY. I been escorting for about a year. I thought I knew the ropes, the likelihood of getting busted was very low, I knew what to do and, if I got busted, it was unlikely to cause me problems. Was I ever wrong!
I have put ads on the Backpage website for escorting. I got an email and accepted a client and I was to meet him at a major hotel. I drove to the hotel and went to the room. I walked in, looked around and everything seemed in order. We started a little small talk and neither of us was going to get to the point right away. I decided to break the ice by saying "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours" as I have done in the past.
The man dropped his pants and he had an erection and I raised my skirt and dropped my panties. I touch his penis and he touch my vagina. This has been my modus operandi when I go out escorting. He told me he wanted to have intercourse with me.
I told him it would be $300 and I supply the condom. I always use the best. He gave me the money and I gave him the condom. Both of us got undressed. He asked me to lay on the bed and start by masturbating because he liked to watch that. So, I laid on the bed and started to masturbate. This went on for several minutes and, at the time, I was enjoying entertaining him.
Then all of a sudden, three men from the adjoining room came in and said, "your under arrested for prostitution." I was immediately handcuffed and I was told to stand there.
The police searched my clothes and purse while one of the cops took pictures of me nude while I was handcuffed. After they were finished, they un-cuffed me, allowed me to dress, re-cuffed me and led me out of the hotel into a police car and took me to the police station.
At the police station, I was booked and then they informed me of the charges. They charged me with two felonies. Felony prostitution because they set the sting up within a mile of a school and use of a computer during commission of a crime.
They told me they were going to seize my car and computer because they were used in the commission of a crime. I chose not to answer any question and they release me on bail. My roommate bailed me out. The worse was yet to come.
The next day the story was in the local papers, on the local television news and on their websites with all the details of my arrest and my picture. I was publically humilated!
I hired an attorney for $2000 and, if it went to trial, it would be another $5000. He felt he could get the charges reduced by the District Attorney to a misdemenor since I had no police record. He said, if I pled guilty to the misdemenor, I would probably get a $500 fine,get 5 days in jail and would get my record expunge in a year if I stayed out of trouble.
My attorney and I met with the District Attorney's office and we were shocked by what happened next.. They said they would drop the use of a computer during commission of a crime charge, which carried up to 5 years in prison, if I pled guilty to the felony prostitution and they would recommend a 3 to 6 month sentance in the county jail. My attorney argued with them about the harshness of their position considering I had no priors.
The District Attorney's office said that they were going to make an example out of me and the 2 other girls they arrested that day because the hotels were complaining about prostitution. If I chose not to accept the deal, they would prosecute me for both felonies and if convicted, I could get 7 years in state prison for both charges.
What happened next both shocked my attorney and myself. They had a hidden video camera in the room and told us they would show the video of me undressing and masturbating along with the pictures taken by the police at trial. They told me that any evidence presented at trail is a public record and after the trial anyone could get a copy of the video and pictures..
My attorney says at preliminary hearing, he will ask the judge to reduce the charges to a misdemeanor, but it is unlikely that he will successful and that I will have to decide to take the offer or risk jury trial. He told me with evidence they have, it was highly likely I would be convicted. This is what I am up against. So be warned!
Thanks a lot to Patricia for sharing this, and again all my best wishes to deal with this mess.
