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Montgomery County, Maryland prostitution incident blotter
Montgomery county police seeking information
Back in 2010 Montgomery county police declared war on Prostitution. They infiltrated some prostitution sites and got access to priveleged information. They flipped prostitutes and johns. They made many arrests, got web sites shutdown. Shutdown escort agencies. Anyone who does prostitution in Montgomery county is begging to get busted. Montgomery County Vice in is charge of a state wide task force to crack down in Prostitution and Human Trafficking. Montgomery County Vice has been instrumental in getting prostitutes arrested and brought to trial in other counties such as Prince George's County MD, Fairfax county, VA, Anne Arundel County MD, Howard County MD, Arlington County VA, DC, and Alexandria VA. They use innovative ways to catch people in the act. You have been warned, do not do prostitution in Montgomery County, MD. You might not get caught the first time but eventually you will get caught.
Vice and Intelligence Detectives Develop Initiatives Against Human Trafficking
DEPARTMENT OF POLICE
MEDIA SERVICES DIVISION
2350 RESEARCH BOULEVARD ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND 20850-3294
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Media Services Division, 240-773-5030
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2010
Vice and Intelligence Detectives
Develop Initiatives Against Human Trafficking
The detectives in the Vice and Intelligence Section of the Special Operations Division of the Montgomery County Police Department want to advise the public of initiatives they have enacted to address the growing concern of human trafficking.
The crime of human trafficking/prostitution may be thought to be a victimless and voluntary crime. That notion is frequently portrayed in films and television shows but those story lines have very little to do with reality. Although it is true that the demand side of the crime is voluntary, the provider side is often not voluntary. The provider may not be a lone entity. The provider can be exploited for money and often coerced through violent means by individuals, and that may go unnoticed by the public and law enforcement. Frequently faceless corporations and persons that utilize the unregulated internet to openly promote illegal activities for a price benefit financially from this crime and fail to take any responsibility for it.
The public may not be as aware of the crime of human trafficking because it is generally hidden from public view. The advertisement, recruitment, and exploitation of victims occur on a variety of internet sites. Some internet sites have been created with the sole purpose of promoting the crime of human trafficking, but internet social sites are also commonly used to recruit victims into human trafficking.
The Montgomery County Police Department is committed to addressing the true benefactors of human trafficking and making them accountable for their illegal activities. The following initiatives have been developed over the past year to address the use of the internet by individuals to promote and financially benefit from human trafficking:
- The Vice Section has effectively shut down escort websites that blatantly advertise activities that are illegal in Maryland. No other crime is so openly confessed to in any forum as the crime of human trafficking. The Vice Section is using a variety of investigative techniques to make web hosts accountable for their complicity in the advertising of human trafficking. Consequently, Web Hosts are eliminating the internet site from their servers. This tactic has eliminated the internet sites for TGND Talent, Diamond Escorts, and Desirable Companions. Sadly, these sites are now moving to servers outside the USA to continue their illegal activities.
- The Vice Section has effectively infiltrated the Erotic Review website and identified key members of the group. The Erotic Review is a website where members openly confess to illegal activities. The website’s members rate women’s appearance, sexual performance, etc. while providing information on contact numbers, organized crime outfits, and local police activities.
- The Vice Section through plea agreements is now operating established and once legitimate escort internet sites where “johns” are currently providing names, places of employment, and contact numbers as if they are communicating with the now defunct service. These contacts are being utilized to arrange “john stings” and identify individuals on the demand side of human trafficking.
- The Montgomery County Police Department has established a spread sheet that identifies all individuals advertising and participating in human trafficking in the jurisdiction of Montgomery County. This spreadsheet identifies participants in human trafficking by name, alias, escort service, telephone number, etc. The primary internet advertisers of human trafficking (EROS and Backpage) are being officially notified that these specific individuals are utilizing their site to participate in illegal activities. The Vice Section is also requesting that Backpage and EROS discontinue the future advertisement of these individuals or be prepared to be found complicit in the crime of human trafficking.
- The official notification to EROS and Backpage that probable cause exists that specific services and individuals have been found to be involved in human trafficking/prostitution and are utilizing their site to promote their illegal activities will eliminate their thinly veiled defense that they are not actively participating in prostitution. This official notification will place these sites into the position of possible civil and criminal ramifications for failure to refuse these individuals advertising space on the sites.
- The Vice Section has initiated outreach to individuals working in the sex trade. The goal of this outreach program is to provide workers in the sex trade industry a safe place to report violence against them. This outreach has resulted in one arrest warrant for robbery and a second report that should result in a warrant for violence committed against a sex worker.
The trafficked individuals are the face of the business and consequently the most exposed and accountable to law enforcement and the judiciary. The true profiteers of human trafficking have learned to make large profits while allowing others to take all the risk. These legal investigative tactics are bringing vice investigations into the 21st century and making everyone involved in the organized crime of human trafficking accountable for their actions.
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