Sample of corruption of legal system, costs and hell to go thru,
even when no crime was committed

THE CRIME OF TOUCHING A MANS CHEST AND REFUSING MONEY FOR IT
The Corruption of the Legal Process in the U.S.
"I demand justice for what happened but alas, cannot afford to fight for it." says one victim
Your Tax Dollars at Work - Wasted money to deny adult freedoms to appease the religious agenda even when no crime was committed

Original source was public posts the women involved sent me. Her story published (and edited to make shorter!) by Dave in Phoenix, with her permission and encouragement but she is not named to protect her privacy.

On April 26, 2000, the Biloxi "pussy police" had a sting operation in place at the Treasure Bay Casino. Contacts were made to various escorts through internet servers, and to local escort agencies. A person with the AOL screen name of "Mgc2d11" who called himself Glen made the appointments to have escorts come to them.

I spoke in e-mail and instant messages with "Glen" who I now know to be working with the Biloxi, MS vice office of the police department. We communicated for 4-6 weeks before actually meeting. At no time, either through written, personal or voice communication did I agree to have intimate contact of any kind with him for money.

After a brief hug and some small talk when I arrived at his hotel room, Glen offered me money which I flatly refused. He seemed confused, turned away, and then showed me the money again, asking "if we go longer, it would cost me more, right?" I smiled and shrugged my shoulders in a noncommittal gesture.

Glen put the money back into his wallet and turned away again, facing a small table. I then excused myself to go to the restroom. (When I went to his room and saw him in person, the only disrobing I did was to lower my undies and pantyhose (alone) in the bathroom so I could go potty after the long drive and I had them back in place before I left the bathroom.)

I have no idea if the money or wallet was still lying out on the table or not when I got back. I returned to the bed area of the room where Glen was under the covers, covered from slightly below his nipple area to his feet. My side of the bed was not turned down invitingly by him or me. I laid across the bedspread on my tummy, facing him in a sort of "T" formation, fully dressed and with my shoes and glasses on. I then kissed his chest and we laughed a little bit. I turned away to make a small tear in the condom package I brought with me in my purse, but laid it down on either my bag on the floor or the nightstand behind me. (I can't remember which, even the night it happened I couldn't remember afterwards where I had placed it.)

I turned back to Glen and kissed his chest again. He took my glasses off and placed them on the table or the night stand beside him. Glen moaned a little and squirmed like he was ticklish or sensitive when I was playing with his chest. He said things to the effect of "I love that, it feels good, that's nice", etc., and I said "It's going to get better". That's when I heard the noise of the door opening and the other cops came in.

When I turned down his money and refused to discuss money for services, etc., they didn't have a case against me. When things between us seemed like they might become more physical, the cops needed to shut it down before their guy got caught up in some unauthorized fun. A group of other vice officers were in an adjoining room and entered through that door.

They had no case against me. They could only hope I would incriminate myself by talking too much. They also hoped I would go along with their plan to plead guilty to a misdemeanor offense of soliciting, go away and darken Biloxi's shores no more.

They did the good cop bad cop routine with me, too. They made sure I knew I could make payments on the $270 fine "when" I plead guilty "since you're from out of town". Wasn't that helpful of them? If the charge doesn't get dropped before it goes on the docket, I'm going to court to fight them tooth and nail.

The head cop, Williams, told me that Glen was with the FBI. Williams said the FBI could come in and seize my computer that very same night but he thought they were probably too busy to do it then. Is that a load of horseshit or what? FBI getting mixed up in misdemeanor offenses?

If anything, The Biloxi cops messed up by luring me across state lines. They committed the offenses, not me. There's also the entrapment issue they will have to deal with too.

Another scenario mentioned by my friends is that the cops were doing this sting to confiscate money and drugs for their budget or private use. I only had a dollar bill on me that night. LOL :-)

One of my regrets that night is that I didn't get any hair from Glen and the other cops' heads. I would add it to a voodoo doll with their names on it. Hello hatpins. Good-bye erections. Hello penile implants. LOL

Her Lawyer Told Her:
Your problems are more practical and political than legal. Start with the matters favorable to you:

Your analysis of the evidence is very good. Played out to its conclusion, you have an excellent chance at winning. All kind of stuff there, from entrapment to illegal police conduct to flat out "you didn't do anything". This is all well and good, but the phrase "played out to its conclusion" must be considered.

Here is where the problem comes in. Your trial will be in Biloxi Municipal Court. The judge in that court is appointed by the city council. He doesn't keep his job by finding people not guilty.

I had the municipal court judge (the one in office now) once tell me that he didn't have the authority to find anyone not guilty. In addition, he works hand in hand with the police on a daily basis. You don't really think he will take your word over theirs do you?

The general standard to win at the municipal court level is as follows:

You must be able to win on the testimony of the officers. That is, their testimony must be such that no crime is described by the officer's own testimony. By the way, don't expect the police to remember the episode the same way you did. Expect to be found guilty at the municipal court level.

The appeal: You are entitled to an appeal. If you are going to win, here's where it will happen. At the appeal level you are entitled to an entirely new trial, just as if the municipal court trial had never occurred. There are two county court judges (that's the appeal level). One is just another middle aged white guy. If you draw him, he ain't gonna let you breathe. The other is a female. If you draw her you have an excellent chance. She might actually require the City to prove its case against you.

Doubt if you're entitled to a jury trial. Long story, but the issue isn't near as clear and settled as you'd imagine.

Mechanics of the appeal -- money and inconvenience.
The Biloxi Municipal court is responsible for preparing certain papers for your appeal. Don't expect it to get done without pulling teeth. Papers get lost, things get forgotten. In the meantime you have a conviction for prostitution in some form on your record. Even if you win your appeal the record could slip out so to speak. Ten years from now it might pop up on some computer search. What is legal and what happens on the street are rarely related. Cost of appeal -- filing fee and bond, probably $250.00. Day in trial, I'll discuss my fee with you.

In short, you could win, but still have such bad things happen that you might not believe it was a win. I'm a lawyer. If you want me to try your case, great. I do this for a living. From a practical standpoint, if I were in your position, I'd want it swept under the rug as quickly as possible.

The press? Do you really want your trial for solicitation for prostitution on the TV? In the newspaper? and if it is do you think the cop would lose. And if he did lose do you think he would let the matter drop? I talk with you about it in detail, but from a practical standpoint, they can make your life incredibly miserable. You stand an excellent chance of winning. But the price will not be cheap. And I ain't talking about the attorney fees.

I hate to sound so negative. Actually I should give you a big build up telling you how we can win, etc. And you can. But i want you to understand the costs involved in winning can be pretty ugly.

Her response:
OK, so that's what he says. I'm grateful that he is a friend of mine and tells me the truth. He knows me well enough to know that I will be a nervous wreck by the time all of this is over with. Looks like I will have to accept the plea of disorderly conduct, be "good" for 2 years and then get it expunged from my record. If Biloxi didn't have a police force full of dirty cops and if their judicial system was worth more than a handful of dogcrap, I might have a chance to fight this BS and actually win.

Once again, let me state that I didn't break any of the "rules" that could be used to get me arrested for solicitation or prostitution. I never discussed money for services, refused the money offered, didn't undress or even take my shoes off or be more physical than to give him a greeting hug and kiss his chest.

I have since spoken to the owner of a local agency that had one of her girls busted also. The cop had completely stripped down to nothing, as did she. He had an erection, got into bed with her, and I suspect physical activity was going on since she didn't hear the vice cops enter the room. The cops stood around and had a good time laughing at her after they came in, though. Her charge was solicitation also. She did all those things and I did NOTHING yet the charges are the same. She decided to just pay her fine of $270 for solicitation and avoid the court appearance.

Is it no wonder the South has such a stereotyped reputation for dirty justice and being 50 years behind the times?

(Dave adds, I bet it isn't that different in most of the U.S.)

Another Attorney's Advice
I have spoken with another attorney in Harrison County who practices criminal law more frequently than my original attorney does. Number 2 has said almost word for word what attorney number one said.

If I had taken the money from Glen's hand, or discussed services for money or broken other basic rules, I would accept the original charge as my due for being an idiot. I would've considered the plea agreement of disorderly conduct as a gift from above and been perfectly happy with it. But I DID NOT do anything they could charge me with. That's what pisses me off so bad. Instead of them realizing they didn't have a case, obeying their oath of office to abide by the law, giving me a warning and letting me go with an admonition not to come back to Biloxi again, I would've gladly complied. But for them to be willing to lie just to get another notch on their badges, that's what angers me beyond words. Those same kinds of actions, same thought processes of "us against them" are what's causing a lot of the trouble in Los Angeles and other big cities. The police there have lost their respect and credibility within their communities because the cops all too often are willing to lie and fabricate evidence just to get someone off the street, sometimes with results that backfire. (Remember Mark Furhman?)

I could see if I were some big time drug dealer, a murderer, rapist or other sociopath, then "maybe" the cops would be justified in doing what they have to do in order to protect their cities and citizens. I never cruise the casinos, bars or streets to pick up men for dates. I'm not a drug user. I'm "small potatoes" compared to some "escorts and other criminals". I'm just a mom trying to make life easier for myself and my kids. I was invited across state lines by the Biloxi police and offered money for a sex act which I refused. In my eyes, and also the letter of the law (see MS Code SEC. 97-29-51) the police committed the offense, not me. Yet here I sit with my stomach in knots, angry and frustrated.

The second attorney explained how my case will go. I will not quote him in order to be as accurate as possible nor will I mention either attorney's name for discretion's sake, but I will summarize what number 2 told me. He told me that I WILL be found guilty in municipal court, there's no 2 ways about it. The municipal court is there to collect money for the city. After my guilty verdict for solicitation, should I try to fight it rather than accept a plea of disorderly conduct, I will be entitled to an appeal. My appeal will go to (county?) court, where I will draw one of 2 judges. No jury trial is likely either.

The white male judge is a judge just like his daddy before him. He is more willing to accept whatever the cops say as gospel truth, ignore what I have to say and I would most likely lose in his court. Winning in his court would be a rare occurrence indeed. This conviction would lead to an appeal on the state level and we're then talking tens of thousands of dollars in defense costs for me. Money I surely don't have.

If I were to get the other judge, an African-American woman, I would have the best chance at true justice, the way it was meant to be. The police are made to show their evidence in her court, not just talk about what they "had, but it got lost" or "she said - I said". They would be forced to present the audio and video tapes Miller the head of Biloxi vice) said they have of me "disrobing" and any instant messages and e-mail between Glen and I which can be easily tampered with, making them inadmissible.

Fighting my case in Biloxi's courts is a crap shoot. Even though I would have the case dismissed against me in the woman's court when I win, it would still be on my record that I was arrested for solicitation, even though I didn't solicit anybody. Or I could get the male judge and then have to find a way to get the big bucks (tens of thousands of dollars was the estimate) for my defense which could be better spent repairing my home and car and getting school clothes and Christmas presents for my kids.

The second (as well as the first) lawyer believes what I told him, and I appreciate his openness, honesty and professionalism with me. They both think its' in my best interest to take the plea bargain, lick my wounds and go on from here. I demand justice for what happened but alas, cannot afford to fight for it.

By the way, none of the Biloxi cops identified themselves to me that night except for Miller telling me his name, "Glen" claiming he was "Glen", no ID was shown to me and my rights weren't read before they tried to get me to answer incriminating questions? If I were a police officer, I would be incensed and ashamed of the conduct of their fellow officers in Biloxi.

What happens when the Biloxi cops don't have enough drug busts for the quarter? Will Miller encourage his cops to plant drugs in cars of people stopped for "weaving", "improper lane changes" or "no turn signals"? A dangerous precedent is being set in that city and no one will be immune from whatever the cops want to happen, regardless of the facts. As a citizen of Biloxi, I would be ashamed of the way their courts are run and at the police officers in the vice department. They're earning a reputation for being liars, lazy and corrupt.

More on "Glen" from AOL is now trying to act as a male escort!
Member Name: Glen
Location: Biloxi, Mississippi
Sex: Male
Marital Status: 39 year old male
Hobbies: Sex, pleasing women, making fantasies come true
Occupation: Escort
Personal Quote: 5'8", 168 pounds, tanned and toned.....Straight.....Biloxi
area only

So looks like he is either trying to pass himself off as an escort for women and bust those willing and desperate enough to pay this pip-squeak for his companionship or maybe even trolling for bi men. I don't know. All I know is that he is a bottom-feeding worm. He and the other Biloxi vice cops are dirty, unethical, unprofessional and liars. Please be careful in this area. Watching what you say and do is no guarantee you'll be free from arrest.

Public reply From another attorney
I would just like to comment on the response from your attorney. I agree that in this field, especially in this election year, when an escort gets busted and the prosecutor goes all out to convict her that it's more political than anything else. Every 4 years politicians always take a tough stance on crime and the two areas that seem to be hit the hardest with increased LE activity are drugs and prostitution.

I also agree that if this thing were to go to trial, then you would probably prevail as

1. Unless I just don't remember everything correctly from your post, I don't remember reading where a crime was committed. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you state that (a) you never mentioned being paid; (b) you never received/touched any money from the cop; (c) you hadn't even gotten undressed yet; (d) you never mentioned performing any sexual acts; and (e) the only thing that you ever did was kiss his chest once he removed his shirt.

As far as I'm aware, there is no law against kissing someone's chest in a hotel room, although I'm perfectly willing to accept that I could be wrong there. However, I think if you went to trial and that's all they can testify to is that once the cop took his shirt off then you kissed his chest, the case should get dismissed b/c no crime has been committed.

2. Okay, if there is a law in MS against kissing a man's bare chest in a hotel room and you violated that law, I believe that you would have a good case of entrapment b/c as you stated, the cop took his own shirt off. The essence of an entrapment defense is that the law enforcement agent initiated the illegal conduct to get you to violate the law. I've had several cases thrown out of court (both as a defense attorney and as a prosecutor) when the cops were found to have entrapped the defendant.

Therefore, I think there is probably no way that you would get convicted if this thing were to proceed to trial. BTW the case that I mentioned in my reply was one that I defended in Washington County, MS. Your lawyer probably has a better knowledge of what's happening in Harrison County than I do so I would take his word for how things worked in Biloxi Municipal Court.

It also appears as if you've been forewarned by a judge down there anyway. Usually, however, county court judges have a little bit more respect for the actual legal process and you win or lose there based on the testimony and the evidence. Most county court judges are going to make the prosecutor's actually prove their case or they will dismiss the charges. However, I'm sure you already know from his letter, this is going to cost you a lot of time and money. Again, your lawyer is probably a lot more familiar with the judicial process in Harrison County than I am and his scenario about what happens should be given consideration. However, I sincerely doubt that appealing your case to county court would elicit the type of media publicity that he described. Even though I too always warn potential clients of the risk of exposing their profession to the general public, I have defended a few ladies on these charges and at most they were only written up in a very small section of the local news.

That's not to say that one day someone's case won't attract the type of media coverage that Heidi Fleiss did, but it hasn't happened to me yet, and I doubt that it will. And unless you have the misfortunes of just having a cop that is determined to be a pain in the ass to you, he's probably not going to make your life a living hell. Sure, he may bother you for a few times after the trial, but usually a complaint filed against him for harassment can take care of that. Most cities cringe when they think they may get sued b/c of the actions of one of their police officers.

Anyway, that's just my own opinion about things. I believe that the case should probably be thrown out at the municipal court level and definitely at the county court level. Just be prepared to spend something in the neighborhood of $2 - $3k if you have to appeal to county court.

I think the prosecutor in this case realized that it would get tossed in court so that's why you were offered the plea to "disorderly conduct." This is a very minor offense and carries with it a small fine. If you're a very passionate and sensitive person and need this thing to disappear as quickly as possible, then take the plea and go on with your life. Especially if you're already having massive chest pains from the anxiety and frustration of this. It's just not worth risking your health over a misdemeanor charge. Should you decide to return to this profession, try to do some kind of screening before taking on new clients.

Another attorney response
Unfortunately, it's a sad state for not only Biloxi, but America in general, when the police know that the justice(?) system is corrupt to the point that they can force someone to plead to an offense of which they are not guilty of by threatening to prosecute them with something that in a perfect system they couldn't even prove. It's not very difficult for the police and the prosecutor(s), who work with the municipal court judges all the time, to know what they can and cannot get away with in their court.

Let me give you a for instance here. I'm a part-time prosecutor in my city's municipal courts and we have this one judge, a white guy, who will just not find a cute, young, blonde haired white girl guilty of any offense no matter how convincing the evidence is against her.

The city prosecutors and the police know this, so whenever the defendant is a white girl, we always try to see if we can get her to plead to something. The problem is that just about all the defense attorneys that have done any work in municipal court knows this also and when their client is a cute, young blonde haired white girl they won't accept any plea offers from the prosecutors, instead would rather take a chance with their case in court. That's just the way it is and it's never going to change. Municipal court judges aren't elected by the public, instead they are appointed by the city's mayor. So, they don't have any constituents to answer to. They only have the mayor to please to keep their jobs.

I think the prosecutor(s) down there knew that they didn't have anything that they could charge you with so they're using the scare tactics to make you plead to disorderly conduct (something that is not even a lesser included offense of the crime that you were arrested for) just so that they could get a conviction for something. Since both of the Harrison County attorneys that you spoke with told you basically the same thing about that court system, I'd say take the plea to the disorderly conduct, pay the fine and just stay out of trouble. Then, you can have this little matter expunged from your record after a period of two years. That includes the arrest and everything associated with it.

Further, this is just a misdemeanor conviction which doesn't become a permanent part of your record unlike felony convictions do. This is not something to let yourself get ill over. I too would advise that you take the plea, lick your wounds, and move on a little bit wiser for the experience. Sometimes, the wisest battle plan is to retreat.

I think you raised some interesting points in your last post. "What happens when the Biloxi cops don't have enough drug busts for the quarter? Will Miller encourage his cops to plant drugs in cars of people stopped for "weaving" improper lane changes or no turn signals? A dangerous precedent is being set in that city and no one will be immune from whatever the cops want to happen, regardless of the facts. As a citizen of Biloxi, I would be ashamed of the way their courts are run and at the police officers in the vice department. They're earning a reputation for being liars, lazy and corrupt."

The short answer is that it's up to the citizens to police the police and their "leaders." You do this by booting the mayor out of office if his administration is allowing corrupt police activities to carry on. The county court judge that isn't upholding the American system of jurisprudence should also be booted. This judge is an elected official and if he's corrupt - get rid of him. BTW I happen to know the lady county court judge and have worked on several projects with her. She's a very tough judge and won't stand for any b/s in her courtroom by either the prosecutor (i.e., the cops) or the defendants.

Here's Glen's newest AOL profile, in case you need a good laugh.
MGC2D11
Member Name: Glen
Location: Biloxi, Mississippi
Sex: Male
Marital Status: 39 year old male
Hobbies: Sex, specializing in unusual and unique experiences. Tell me what you want and I make it happen
Occupation: Escort - WOMEN only
Personal Quote: What some consider strange, others consider exhilarating. Biloxi area only.

THE FINAL CONCLUSION
I heard back about the Biloxi b.s. yesterday afternoon. I got lawyer number 3 to have the case put aside. If I don't "work" in Biloxi for 2 years they drop everything. If I get caught they reactivate the charge against me. So, as of now, there's nothing to find should an employer go looking for a criminal record. I'm so happy and relieved, I can breathe freely for the first time in almost 3 months. While I would've preferred to get off with a warning when it first happened, this is the next best thing.

I have to go to Biloxi within 30 days to get my fingerprints taken as well as my mug shots. :o/ I will go next week and have a friend go with me. It's not something I relish doing alone.

I'd wanted to go to Biloxi's chief of police and take written statements of what happened the night I got arrested as well as tell him face to face. To do so now with the conditions I have upon me, may anger someone and the case can be brought into active status in retaliation. So I will have to keep my mouth shut, although it may induce a hernia. LOL

Anyway, I'm happy now and feel like I have the weight of the world off my shoulders.

I'll be retiring in mid-August. The 2 events from April have taken their toll on me, and it's taking a long time to recover from them. Rather than live in fear and suspicion, having to harden myself in order to be a "success", I'd rather leave while I still have my good personality traits intact.

Dave adds
Too bad that her legal issues would be avoided if she lived in most any other more free country, than the U.S. From all accounts she is a wonderful women who brings joy and happiness (not just sex) to many men. Our society needs this kind of caring providers and her charges were far less than most of the rip-off artists that are so common that don't have legal problems.

As another person said of this women, "You have an extremely good ability to "mesh" with men. I don't mean physically, but mentally and socially. This is a skill you should pursue in the "real world". You set a standard for providers that has only been equaled once and never been surpassed. It is not all sexual, it is your spirit. You have a spark that is waiting to flourish. You have the kind of spirit that you want to spend time the whole evening absorbing. Time never flies as quickly as when I am with you. In this business, you're bound to see more coals than diamonds (if you know what I mean). You're special, remember that."

We could learn from Canada, Europe, Australia, most of Asia, Israel and so many other countries where the right women are choosing to provide wonderful intimacy services without the risk of cops ruining their lives as in the U.S. And we wonder why we are such a violent culture. I believe some of it is the sexual repression with no legal outlets, and the few brave women who provider intimacy services are such outcasts by a culture and laws dictated by the religious agenda who thinks only their morality is best for all of us. Of course, they are often the ones not abiding by their own imposed moral codes, but they overcome their own guilt by making sure no one else can do it legally.

There are many other situations where police have used the Internet to set up stings and entrap people, both women and their male customers. For example, on TBD Seattle board a vice cop posted favorable reviews of a provider, luring men to a hotel and arresting them. The TBD boards are known to be actively monitored by police all over the U.S.
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Cross-Dresser Tricked By Police on Internet
SF cops spend six months working on a guy with some obvious problems. During that time the cops sent him emails, creating an imaginary woman interested in marrying him. However, she make him having sex with her children a precondition. Over six months he finally agreed to a great enough extent that they arrested him.
The 9th District Court of Appeals threw it out, thankfully.
Full story at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000628/aponline060411_000.htm
By Scott Andrews
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, June 28, 2000; 6:04 a.m. EDT

SAN FRANCISCO –– A transvestite convicted of trying to have sex with children was ordered freed from prison by an appellate panel who ruled that police used the Internet to entrap him. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Mark Poehlman, 40, was lured into crime by an undercover agent offering the possibility of a family if Poehlman would agree to teach three girls how to have sex. The agent contacted Poehlman through an Internet service for people with "alternative" sexual identities, according to the court.

"There is surely enough real crime in our society that it is unnecessary for our law enforcement officials to spend months luring an obviously lonely and confused individual to cross the line between fantasy and criminality," Judge Alex Kozinski wrote in the majority opinion Tuesday. Poehlman's attorney, Edward M. Robinson, said the ruling would discourage authorities from targeting homosexuals and bisexuals in their search for pedophiles. "You can't rely on antiquated prejudice and come to the conclusion that, if you have an interest in alternative, non-heterosexual sex, you are predisposed to have an interest in children," he said. The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment.

Judge David R. Thompson dissented, arguing there was some evidence that Poehlman had a predilection for child sex, such as a remark he made before his arrest that he "always looked at little girls."

Kozinski said Poehlman was apparently lonely when he saw an ad placed by the agent posing as "Sharon" in 1995. He had been divorced by his wife and forced into early retirement by the Air Force after revealing that he could not control his cross-dressing compulsion. Poehlman responded, saying he was looking for a long-term relationship leading to marriage. They exchanged several e-mails in which Sharon hinted that she wanted Poehlman to have sex with her daughters. She later made it clear that if he didn't want to, their communication would end. Over the next six months, she prompted him to graphically describe how he would have sex with her children.

Poehlman was arrested in 1996 after he traveled to California to meet Sharon and the children. He spent 120 days in jail, then pleaded no contest to state child-sex charges on the condition that he be released. In 1998, he was convicted on federal charges of crossing state lines to have sex with a child. He was sentenced to over 10 years in prison. His lawyer expects him to be released within a week.
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Police Using the Internet More - Another situation where police get their kicks arresting adults providing a safe, healthy private service to "mankind"
WOMAN CHARGED WITH ONLINE PROSTITUTION Experts Say It's a Growing Trend
By Richard Zitrin

FORT SMITH, Ark. (APBnews.com) -- In what experts say is a growing trend, an unemployed waitress has been arrested for turning to the Internet to make money as a prostitute, police said.

Diana Deveaux, 41, of Fort Smith, was charged with soliciting sex, a misdemeanor, after an undercover police officer met with her in a hotel room Tuesday, according to police Sgt. Jeff Barrows. The vice officer met with Deveaux after contacting her through her site on the World Wide Web, Barrows said.

Deveaux, who advertises herself on her Web site as a "private escort," told police she had been meeting men through the Internet since the beginning of the year, Barrows said. Got the idea while online. She allowed police to search her home, where investigators found computer records showing she has corresponded with about 100 men via her Web site, he said. "She told us she was perusing the Internet and saw other people [soliciting prostitution]," Barrows told APBnews.com today. "She said she needed money. She was unemployed. The last job she had was as a waitress at a local restaurant."

A money-making tool
The Internet is providing many people, including those with evil intentions, with opportunities to make money, and law enforcement agencies are slow to keep pace, said U.S. Customs Service Senior Special Agent Donald Daufenbach, an international expert in child pornography and the Internet. "The Internet is like anything else: It can be bent or perverted for nefarious purposes," Daufenbach told APBnews.com. "The Internet has absolutely changed the way people communicate with each other, changed the way people conduct commerce, changed the way people do research, changed the way people entertain themselves and changed the way people break the law," he said."It's just a new version of what the mails or what the telephones used to be," he added. "People are catching on pretty quick, but law enforcement is lagging behind miserably in this whole endeavor."

Police tipped off to site
Daufenbach, who has trained police agencies around the world about the Internet, said child pornography, fraud, copyright infringement and prostitution are among the crimes being pursued through the Internet. "It's a real hotbed," he said. "It has turned the whole law enforcement world upside down."

Police arrested Deveaux after a woman called the Fort Smith police Crimestoppers phone line last Thursday to report she came across an Internet site where someone appeared to be soliciting prostitution in the Fort Smith area, Barrows said. The caller is eligible for a reward of up to $1,000, although she will get a lesser award because the charge against Deveaux is a misdemeanor, Barrows said.

'It's still a misdemeanor'
Deveaux faces a maximum of 90 days in jail, he said. She is free on $1,000 bond pending her arraignment Monday in Fort Smith Municipal Court. She has not entered a plea.
Federal authorities decided not to get involved in the case because there appears to be no interstate crime, Barrows said. "It's an interesting case, but it's still a misdemeanor," he said. "We were excited about it because it gave us an opportunity to police the Internet a bit."
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A response from Australia where prostitution is legal like in most of the world:

I hope the bitch who dobbed her in spends her 30 pieces of silver well. I laughed at the bit where the cops say "We were excited about it because it gave us an opportunity to police the Internet a bit." Obviously doesn't take much to excite a police officer these days...
Sera P
Aussie Whore
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Yep, that sounds like a cop's dream job to me, Sera. Imagine the exhilaration and excitement of the police being able to sit on their fat asses, eating donuts at their desks while looking at porn, GETTING PAID FROM OUR TAX DOLLARS FOR DOING SO, and then being lauded as a hero for arresting a non-violent person for providing entertainment between consenting adults. They must be covered with goosebumps from the thrill of it all. As an added bonus (!!!) that arrest involved no major expenditure of energy and their powdered (or glazed) jelly-filled calories.

If this sort of police "work" continues, they'll all be too lazy and negligent to go after the real criminals. You know, the big scary ones who carry weapons, those who harm others and who might also (gasp!) put up resistance. The police will be tempted to go after misdemeanor crimes and criminals exclusively. That way it'll still look like they're "doing their duty to serve and protect".

Ohhhhh, wait a minute. Never mind. I forgot. That's what's happening already.
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Yes, the online escort was ratted out by some woman in her area who just might have an axe to grind against the escort. Or maybe the "concerned citizen" was afraid her husband might be tempted to use the escort's services and that's why she set the police upon her. A preventative measure perhaps. Who knows?

I'd love to hear the escort's side of the story, about what her web site contained in pics as well as in text. I'd like to know how the police made contact with her and how they were able to charge her with what she stands accused of. Unless the escort made major mistakes in judgement and threw herself into jail with her own acts of stupidity, I'd be willing to bet she has a different story to tell than the police will.

IMHO it's naive to think the Arkansas police (or other LE) will go back to police work as per usual and not use online stings again. Unless, of course, another questionable web site is brought to their attention by a holier-than-thou trying to make money from an escort's efforts. Wait? Wouldn't that make them a pimp? :o)

The questionable Southern city you mentioned now has a vice officer posing as a male escort for "straight women only" using an AOL screen name and profile. Apparently, this city has a lot of extra time and money to spend if they think a woman will ever have to pay a man for "services". Imagine if you will... an "American Gigolo 2000" lying in wait, trying to snag some blue-haired 83 year old widow looking for someone to steady her arm as she plays the nickle slots. :::snicker::: You go, boy! LOLOL!

And as far as the former governor of Arkansas's activities, I think he showed incredible restraint in doing what he did. I've yet to meet a hetero man who would turn down a bj from an attractive young woman or turn away in modesty when a thonged butt is flashed in his direction. Most men I know of would've done a WHOLE lot more than he did with the opportunities (etc) that were literally thrust into his face, all things considered. :o)

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In all seriousness, would any American police agency arrest an elderly woman who booked a gigolo for services, sexual or otherwise? Surely that would *not* be a vote winner... !
Sera P Aussie Whore
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