Illicit Massage Parlors See New Form Of Crackdown
In the last few years, the difficulty of dispelling massage parlor prostitution through traditional police methods has prompted some cities to experiment with a new enforcement approach.
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In the last few years, the difficulty of dispelling massage parlor prostitution through traditional police methods has prompted some cities to experiment with a new enforcement approach.
Two men are accused of having sex with a runaway 17-year-old girl for money, in connection with a St. Paul prostitution sting earlier this year.
More than a dozen people are facing behind bars after a two-day prostitution sting by police at a Duluth area motel late this week. Fourteen men face charges for soliciting prostitution, one of whom faces additional charges for sex trafficking and selling methamphetamine. A woman was also taken into custody for offering prostitution services.
A North Branch massage parlor was the target of a prostitution raid on Tuesday.
The proprietors of Ramsey, Minnesota massage parlor are accused of profiting from the prostitution of their employees.
A Ramsey County judge handed down stern words and stiff sentences for an Eden Prairie couple convicted of prostituting a 15-year-old girl in St. Paul.
Two Hastings men are accused of prostituting an underage girl as a form of payment in a drug deal, according to charges filed in Dakota County Court. William Dale Willis, 25, and Daniel Rashaun Gopie, 27, were each charged with two felony counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the Sept. 21 incident.
A 25-year-old St. Paul man pleaded guilty Friday to one count of sex trafficking a minor. Dontre McHenry is accused of recruiting and trafficking teenage girls throughout Minnesota, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Lugar. McHenry is suspected of coercing at least three girls under the age of 18 between January 2013 and March 2014.
Bloomington Police arrested 16 people in a recent prostitution sting, including the former CEO of a Twin Cities hospital. David Cress, 64, was among the 15 men and one woman arrested on Tuesday. North Memorial Medical Center cut ties with Cress after police arrested him in a prostitution sting in Richfield four years ago.
The former chief of police in Robbinsdale pleaded guilty to soliciting a prostitute earlier this year. Steven Smith, 45, was arrested in Coon Rapids during a prostitution sting in February.
A 36-year-old California man is facing federal criminal charges following his arrest in Las Vegas on charges alleging he transported a teenage girl from Minnesota to Los Angeles to engage in prostitution. Records show that Laron Darrell Carter was scheduled to for a detention hearing before a magistrate judge on Tuesday. His public defender, Elisa Vasquez, declined comment.
Investigators are releasing new information on the prostitution sting that led to the arrest of the Robbinsdale police chief. Former police chief Steven Smith was one of 11 people taken into custody on Feb. 20 by Coon Rapids police. According to police records, he was answering an ad on Backpage.com that was placed by an undercover Coon Rapids officer.
The Robbinsdale police chief stepped down Saturday after being issued a citation for hiring and engaging in prostitution by the Coon Rapids Police Department on Feb. 20.
A suburban St. Louis man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for transporting five female victims for prostitution purposes between Missouri and five other states. Federal prosecutors say 45-year-old Barry Wimberly of Hazelwood, Mo., pleaded guilty in December to one felony count of transportation for purposes of prostitution.
A 30-year-old St. Paul man received the longest sentence ever imposed on anyone found guilty of sex-trafficking in Minnesota history. Otis Deno Washington was found guilty of first- and second-degree solicitation to practice prostitution (one involving a minor), two counts of promotion of prostitution, and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
A Chicago man was sentenced Friday to more than 26 years in prison for the sex trafficking of a teenage girl – which may be the longest sentence ever given in Minnesota for such a crime. According to the Ramsey County Attorney's office, Arteco Marvell Rhodes, 38, was found guilty on Nov. 1 on one count of engaging in sex trafficking in the first degree and possession of child pornography. Rhodes met the defendant, a 15-year-old girl, in Chicago in March, and asked her if she "wanted to make money and be part of the family." Within weeks, Rhodes drove the teen and a 19-year-old woman from Chicago to the Twin Cities in a conversion van.
Four family members have now been convicted for participating in a sex trafficking ring that last about two years, extended to multiple Minnesota communities and victimized many vulnerable women. On Wednesday, the Ramsey County Attorney's Office announced that 30-year-old Otis Deno Washington, of St. Paul, was found guilty in Ramsey County District Court on multiple sex trafficking counts. According to a press release, they are: two counts of promotion of prostitution; two counts of solicitation, one involving a minor; and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking.
A Ramsey County jury found a 27-year-old Brooklyn Park man guilty on Friday in connection with a human sex trafficking operation that involved numerous victims -- including women who were mentally slow or vulnerable -- across multiple Minnesota communities.
A Ramsey County jury found a Chicago man guilty in the sex trafficking of a 15-year-old girl in St. Paul in April 2013. Arteco Marvell Rhodes, 38, was found guilty of possession of child pornography and he will be sentenced at 9 a.m. on Dec. 13.
A 37-year-old Eden Prairie woman is in Carver County jail pending charges of felony promotion of prostitution after officers raided a Chanhassen massage parlor last Wednesday. According to Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson, deputies served a search warrant at a message business on the 7900 block of Stone Creek Drive in Chanhassen on the afternoon of Oct. 29. Deputies had originally targeted to the business after allegations that employees were offering sexual services for a "$40-$50 tip."
A former suburban Minneapolis high school cheerleading captain has been sentenced to three years in prison for prostituting a younger squad member. Eighteen-year-old Montia Parker was sentenced Friday. She will spend at least two years behind bars before she's eligible for release.
Prosecutors say a high school cheerleader is admitting she talked a fellow student into prostituting herself, then kept the money. Eighteen-year-old Montia Parker pleaded guilty Friday to three prostitution-related counts.
Getting caught engaging in prostitution or soliciting sex for pay will come with a higher cost to Minnesota offenders. A new state law permits authorities to forfeit the cash that was used in or intended for the sex solicitation.
A Brooklyn Park man is charged with one count of prostitution involving a 16-year-old who was pulled in to prostitution by a fellow Hopkins High School cheerleader. According to the Hennepin County Attorney's office, 27-year-old Oladipupo Ademola Legunsen is accused of soliciting sex from a high school sophomore on March 6, which he saw posted in an ad on Backpages.com. The victim was allegedly solicited by 18-year-old Montia Marie Parker of Maple Grove, who knew the victim from the cheerleading team at Hopkins High, where she was a senior.
It's a story being written in the halls of schools across the Twin Cities -- girls as young as 12 are being recruited as sex workers. The FBI ranks Minnesota 13th in the nation for highest incidence of sex trafficking.
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