CRIME WATCH Prostitution sting in National City leads to arrest of 6 men, 5 womenUNION-TRIBUNE March 11, 2001 NATIONAL CITY -- Police arrested six men and five women Friday night during an undercover prostitution sting.Police focused on parts of Roosevelt Avenue and National City Boulevard in the northwest part of the city where they have received complaints about prostitution.Women were arrested when they allegedly approached male undercover officers and offered sex for money, police said. The women were booked into Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility. Police said one woman was eight months pregnant.The men were booked into County Jail after allegedly soliciting female undercover officers who were posing as prostitutes.Copyright 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

As far as I can tell, almost all of the LE activity in San Diego focuses on street prostitution.  Then again, maybe because street stings are more visible, they get a lot more publicity.  I've heard of a few massage parlors getting told "we are watching you", but has anybody heard of any busts of parlors occuring lately?  Does SD Vice set up fake escort operations to catch people?  Have they gone after outcall or incall escorts?

On the LA board, "siphon" indicated that LE was becoming more active with escorts. However, there weren't any additional details. Just on general terms, there's probably more bang for San Diego LE to target street prostitution. On the one hand, it keeps businesses and residents happy that a nuisance has been removed from their areas. On the other, LE can rack up large numbers of collars within a single night. If LE sells the impounded cars, it's also self-financing. An additional bonus is that typically there is good publicity on the local TV outlets. Of course, this doesn't mean that that escorts and their clients are not being targeted by S.D., just that it's more costly and takes more work. We can but hope that things continue.

It's not just street action!  There have been 2 or 3 bust's lately of Independent providers working out of their homes or office buildings.  These happened around 3-01-01.  There must be a way for the providers to screen out LE, I'm just not bright enough to create the system.

Sounds like LE might have an "internet" unit. We'll have to hope that there's some LE administrator high enough up that decides there isn't enough bang for the buck on these in-call busts. In the words of the duty sargent on Hill Street Blues, "...Let's be careful out there..."

Siphon, do you know which independents were busted on or about 3-1-01 as you say?

I realize this is a touchy issue, siphon, but isn't it possible that LE has "turned out" the aforementioned independents. On other boards, they've discussed how cooperative escorts could be induced to bust multiple clients, in exchange for lightening up on the charges. I'm thinking specifically of Avery in Orange County. If so and your information is solid, perhaps you might consider providing names. This would only be appropriate if these providers were still escorting, despite being busted.

I am a very good friend of one of the busted girls and she was told by her attorney to not reveal her name or speak to anyone about the arrest.  I posted a general alert because I felt that the "community at large" should know what is going down.  It may have been a random contact, but this provider has been on the scene for a long time and has a very low exposure.  By her reviews, she is considered an average provider, so there is no high profile for LE to attack.  The other two were girls known to the hobby, but I did not get the information directly from them, so I do not have confirmation.  It appears that a "john" who had been caught was used to trap my friend.  He did not return when the three officers came in with the cuffs.  They did not take her downtown, just wrote a ticket. On TDB there was a post about "screening" and it sounded good to me.  They talked about getting home phone, work phone, real name, etc., so the provider could do some background checking.  Something to think about.