In the summer of 2004 I called a provider who had an ad on Craig's List.  She answered the phone and told me she was doing in-call at a motel. Her rates were listed in her ad so there was no mention of money. We set up an appointment and she told me where the motel was located.
She said to call her when I arrived at the motel and she would give me the room number.

I arrived a little less than an hour early for the appointment and parked across the street from the motel in a restaurant parking lot.  It was a rather small motel and I had an unobstructed view of all the rooms since the all the rooms faced the street.  It was a two story building with an outside walkway.  There were a couple of cars in the motel parking lot but I didn't see any other activity.  It was in the early afternoon so I assume most of the guests had checked out.  

I was there about ten minutes when I saw a car drive into the motel parking lot.  A man got out of the car and knocked on one of the motel room doors.  Someone opened the door and he was let in.  I wasn't close enough to see who let him in.  About 15 minutes later another car pulled into the parking lot.  A man got out of his car and knocked on the same door. Again, someone opened the door and let him in.  The same thing happened about 20 later.  Someone arrived at the room every 15 to 20 minutes.  Each person went into the room but no one came out.  After about two and a half hours after I arrived, two marked police cars drove by the motel and parked on a side street next to the motel building.  Almost immediately after the marked police cars parked, the door of the room next to the door where the men had entered opened.  Two men who were obviously cops because they were wearing guns and had police badges on their belts walked out of the room followed by five men in handcuffs being followed by two more plain clothes cops.  They walked to the marked police cars where the handcuffed men were placed in the back seats of the marked cars.  The four cops in plain clothes went back into the adjoining motel room and the marked cars drove away with the handcuffed men.  

It was obviously a sting operation but I thought I would stick around out of curiosity.  About 30 minutes after the marked police cars left with the handcuffed men, another car pulled into the motel parking lot and the routine began over again.  I stuck around about 45 minutes then left.  Three men had arrived and entered the motel within the 45 minutes I was there.

The cops were no doubt running a very efficient sting operation.  I observed a total of eight men get arrested in the time I was there. I thought about the operation starting with the original Craig’s List ad.  There was a photo of a girl but her face was blurred out.  She was wearing a skimpy pair of shorts and a small halter top.  It was a suggestive photo but nothing that could be considered even remotely obscene.  Actually, the photo could have been of anyone since it did not reveal the identity of the girl being photographed.  It seemed like they set up numerous appointments but by arresting the men as soon as then entered the room and holding them in the adjoining room they didn’t expose their operation.  They waited until they had five men in custody before they took them to the waiting marked police cars.  The marked police cars didn’t arrive until the other cops were ready to take the men out of the room.  The marked cars left as soon as the arrested men were placed in the cars.  It happened so fast that unless you were watching as I was you would have never seen it.  If they had taken each man away as they were arrested there would have been a much greater chance of exposure. I would have loved to have talked to the men who were arrested to find out how the operation was run once they were inside the room but that was impossible.  Needless to say, I never arranged a meeting with another provider from Craig’s List again.  That was the first and last time for me and Craig’s List.  This took place in the San Fernando Valley which is north of Los Angeles.

great story thanks for sharing, i heard bad things about craigs list as well. Stick to the reviews and suggest everyone to do a lot of research before meeting anyone.

Balboa, interesting post.  The fact that you drove to the locale nearly an hour early & staked the place out--what spiked your suspicion about this incall (?)  or are you cautious by nature.

Really smart play, I'm glad you didn't get nailed by the Sex Police.  --z

I do hope it saves more than one of our readers a free trip downtown.

on the Newbie board. While I have and still will occassionally use CL, this is a prime example on the hazards of seeing unreviewed ladies, especially off of Craig's List

If a lady offers incall, she will be choosing the hotel.  If she outcalls to you... well, this is the exact reason many ladies do not outcall.  The lesson is not to beware of who chooses which hotel, the lesson is to not see unreviewed providers from Craigslist.

While I'm happy that you avoided trouble... I'd be pissed as hell and probably black list you if I ever found out you arrived early and sat outside my incall for 45 minutes.

.02

my incall Hotel for 45 min. prior to our meeting as long as he was doing it in a discreet way, if you did it in front of my home, I would never see you again, but a hotel, I don't give a shit.

glad you had that extra sence, pathetic that this is even going on,
it sounds like... they got Popped, just for the simple fact they arrived,,, what does that prove??
I know that there men & women that would gladly pay big bucks to hang out with someone (no hanky panky at all)  
we nedd to never conict soemone even if when LE goes to such elaborate excessive stings..

I find it amusing that SolaLove is so pissed that this guy covered his own ass. He was perfectly clear that he observed from a restaurant adjacent to the hotel, and was in no way causing a problem. What he did was smart - plain and simple. Providers tend to cover their own ass and require referrals, so why should the client not cover his own ass? How is the client to know that even a reviewed provider is not a setup? For all we know, you could have made a deal with LE to sting some clients in exchange for a reduced charge.

Remember ladies, you are not the only ones taking a risk - the client has a lot to lose too.

I arrived early because I am a cautious person and wanted to get an idea what was going on before I called her back to get the room number. As they say in the military, you can’t be too careful. The motel was on a busy street, and where I parked in the parking lot made me very inconspicuous.  If I had been noticeable I am sure the cops would have noticed me.

Meeting a provider at a motel is not the same as meeting her at her in-call location.  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out LE almost uses motels for their stings.  Having either the hobbyist or the provider come to them is the safest and most efficient for them to operate.  I seriously doubt they would send a female cop alone into a room to meet a hobbyist just to make a misdemeanor arrest.  What if the hobbyist put a gun to her head and they had a hostage situation?  What if a male cop walked into a motel room alone to meet a provider and it was really a robbery set up and someone put a gun to his head?  

If you think this situation through based on experience you can pretty much see why LE operates the way they do. They also made eight arrests during the short time I was there.
I doubt they could have made many arrests by having a female cop responding to hobbyists all over town.  

If I had arrived at the last minute and headed straight for the door I would have been arrested.  I have as much if not more to lose by being arrested as any provider has.  I am cautious and I would do the same thing again.

I have a hard time understanding why you would be offended by a hobbyist sitting in a parking lot across from a motel where you were operating.  I can see you being upset if someone was stalking you where you live, but what I did was hardly stalking.  You screen your clients and even request personal information e.g. employers telephone number etc.  That is far more intrusive than arriving early at a motel and watching to see if anything is amiss. How that would rise to the level of being blacklisted is beyond me. The lesson if there is one is to be careful.   Hopefully the sharing of my experience will help another hobbyist avoid being drawn into a sting.

Good luck and thanks for your input.  I sincerely wish you a safe and prosperous career.

You missed the entire point of my post, it seems.

There are other threads of the benefits and potential hazards of incall vs. outcall.  I also don't have much to say about "LE almost uses motels for their stings" as I've seen news reports of stings at high end hotels, private residences, AMPs, and every scenerio you might be able to imagine.  They happen.

My point was that the lesson you learned and are sharing should have been two-fold -
1. Stings happen
2. Unreviewed providers on CL are potentially dangerous

I will give you credit for the idea of avoiding certain types of motels/hotels.  I've always refused to visit or stay in anything that is not 3+ stars, and laugh at requests to meet at airport hotels.  In my area those hotels are known to cooperate heavily with LE.  Then again, I've also fully gone to refusing to consider an outcall unless it is someone that I know very well... regardless of what type of building it is.

"If I had arrived at the last minute and headed straight for the door I would have been arrested."

Lesson to be learned?
IF you had done some homework on the provider before agreeing to meet with her, you would never have made the appointment.

"I have a hard time understanding why you would be offended by a hobbyist sitting in a parking lot across from a motel where you were operating."
First, as mentioned, I won't stay in motels.
Second, it is an invasion of my privacy coming and going, as well as the privacy of any of my other gentleman friends.
Third, in most cases it would be very difficult to sit in your car for almost an hour without drawing attention to yourself... and thus, the lady you are visiting.

" Hopefully the sharing of my experience will help another hobbyist avoid being drawn into a sting."
That would be nice, and your sharing is more valuable if the gents listen to ALL of the red flags here.

"Good luck and thanks for your input."
And to you too!
: )

xoxo,
Sola

Then feel free to read my reply "Dear Mr. Balboa" below.

As mentioned, it's great that it worked well for him, that time.  However, his actions in most circumstances would call attention to himself, and put the lady at increased risk.  I stand by what I said - if someone EVER tries that shit with me, I will blacklist.  There are many other ways for a gent to cover his ass than to invade my privacy.

if any gentleman has any difficulty understanding it, just turn it around - if you invited a lady for  outcall to your home and she arrived 45 minutes early and sat in her car on your street for that time, I bet you would be less than thrilled.

The location was a motel on a busy commercial street.  I was sitting in a parking lot across the street from the motel along with several hundred other cars.  It was not her home, and it was not on the street in front of her home. I took a prudent step to avoid being arrested, and in no way did I invade her privacy.  

In regards turning the situation around; if I were in a motel room waiting for a provider and she parked across the street in a parking lot and waited to see if there was anything out of the ordinary, e.g. a possible sting, I would not be the least bit offended.  As a matter of fact, I would commend her for her good judgment.    

Now if you think I was out of line by being cautious or it was somehow an invasion of privacy then you are a moron.

a comment as to why I understand she does not want clients to arrive early at her incall.

Thank You for posting your experience. Incall can be higher risk, regardless of the star rating of the hotel/motel or if it is a reviewed provider or not. For example, if she is high volume, the traffic can  attract attention of the hotel staff or visitors that could complain to LE. This has occurred in residential incalls too. All LE has to do is stop you on your way out. Unless you have a good story they believe, you could be screwed, and not in a good way. It might be better to keep your mouth shut. Not an easy thing. I'm not an attorney , but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night and called my favorate provider, costs more but less risk and stress.