Cop Log: Trick turns costly for man

LAWRENCE — A man got less than he bargained for when he met a woman outside his South Union Street Rooming house and invited her to his room.

The victim told police he had come back from the store about 8 p.m. Sunday and saw the woman standing out front at 77 S. Union St. Thinking she was a prostitute, the man told police he asked her if she was working and she said yes.

He took her to his room and after he took off his pants, she grabbed his wallet off the dresser and ran for the door.

He was able to grab her but she bit his hand and fled, calling out to her boyfriend who lives on the third floor of the rooming house.

He chased her, but lost her when she ran back into the building, and when he returned to his room he found his wallet on the floor in front of his door.

All of the contents were intact except for the $180 in cash he told police he had in the wallet.

Argument in parking lot leads to arrest, summons


METHUEN — One man was arrested and charged with assault and battery and a woman is being summonsed on a prostitution charge after a police officer witnessed them arguing in a parked car off Pelham Street early yesterday morning.

Mr x. 23, is being charged with assault and battery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, a shod foot, after Officer Shawn Moore saw him arguing with and then trying to kick a woman out of his car.

Moore said he was on routine patrol when he noticed two people in a car parked in a lot near the Pelham Street Sunoco station at 12:20 a.m. He said as he drove by, he noticed that the passenger-side door was open and that there was a possible domestic assault in progress.

He witnessed man kicking at the woman, as if trying to kick her out of the car. He said the woman was crying and trying to hold onto the passenger door of the vehicle. She then fell out onto the asphalt, crying and yelling for help.

Moore called for back-up, approached the vehicle and spoke to the occupants. Man was placed in custody during which he told Moore that the woman was a prostitute and that the argument was over money. Apparently he had picked her up on Broadway and drove her to the Days Inn on Pelham Street where he paid her $100 with the intention of having sex with her.

But, he told Moore, they didn't like each other and the sex never happened. He said he drove back down Pelham Street, stopping at the Sunoco where he told the woman to get out. They started to argue over the money for "services that weren't rendered and it got physical," according to police.

The woman was also interviewed and she told police that while she used to be a prostitute, she no longer did that kind of work due to health reasons. Instead, she said the argument was a simple disagreement over money. Moore informed her that she would be issued a summons for one count of sexual conduct for a fee, or prostitution. She was not injured during the incident and declined treatment.