Detectives got sex services as part of prostitution probe.From NBC12 News Tuesday, February 14, 2006
The Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office is under fire this morning for the way they investigate certain prostitution cases. Undercover detectives have reportedly been having sex when they bust massage parlors for prostitution. Sheriff Howard Smith says the detectives are just doing what needs to be done in order to build a case and get a conviction. He says they are not doing anything illegal or new. But County Supervisor Henry Connors Jr. says he wants the practice to stop.
"The bottom line is, while we want to shut down places of ill repute, I don't think we want to promote ill moral behavior among our law enforcement officials," Connors said.
NBC12 legal analyst Steven Benjamin says: "I can't believe the Sheriff is still defending this policy, I promise you, he won't be defending it much longer."
The sheriff says the department has been successful in shutting down several massage parlors using this method. He says only unmarried detectives are involved.
Court documents show that four times last month, county detectives allowed women at Moon Spa to perform sex acts on them -- once leaving a 350 dollar tip. Smith acknowledged the practice is not new.
Several police officials and legal observers say the practice has been tried by other agencies across the country, but they knew of none that still permit sexual contact with suspects as part of prostitution investigations. I do not care what the "bottom line" is --- engaging prostitutes for sex as an undercover operation is a far stretch for something a little more plausible like purchasing drugs from a dealer in order to infiltrate a drug ring.
I hope Benjamin is correct in saying this policy will no longer be defended.
[SS]
 sexual slavery, prostitution, fleshploitation |
