McCRACKEN CO., Ky. - Once again, a northwestern Kentucky County is in the forefront of cracking down on online solicitation for prostitution.
Paducah in McCracken County, Kentucky, apparently has a problem with people wanting to sell their bodies for money as well as with drawing in people who are willing to do so. They've had many incidents in the past wherein online ads stating that very thing have resulted in sometimes massive busts, and it all goes back to an undercover task force dedicated to infiltrating the rings and making the arrests. We've covered at least one of these busts in the past, which you can read about here.
That particular bust had one local southern Illinois guy involved. The one that took place over the course of several days this week - January 14 through 17 - involved a lot more locals.
With a total of 17 arrested in this bunch, there turned out to be five involved from the downstate Illinois area, from the locales of Carbondale in Jackson County, Eddyville in Pope County, and Marion in Williamson County.
The arrests were made the same way previous ones had been accomplished: McCracken County Sheriff's officers started the investigation after complaints started coming in about those online ads that got them caught before (thus far, we've never seen any of these ads, which ostensibly appear on "websites"; we don't know which websites, nor how widespread the ads are nor what they say.) Whatever the case, the undercover detectives began responding to the online ads, and placed their own ads on said websites, in order to forward the investigation and get as many people caught in the net as possible.
Ultimately they were able to arrest and charge the following Illinoisans:
Terrnell P. Albritton, 33, Carbondale; Promoting Prostitution and Operation on a Suspended/Revoked License
Mallory A. Shisler, 28, Carbondale; Prostitution
Dennis Richards, 66, Eddyville; Solicitation of Prostitution
Anissa R. Haymon, 25, Marion; Prostitution
Christopher D. Taylor, 40, Marion; Fugitive from another State (Arkansas)
The rest of those arrested were the following:
Aaron J. Kelly, 26, Paducah; Prostitution and Possession of Marijuana
Joshua W. Culp, 39, Benton (Kentucky); Prostitution, Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Penny L. Baird, 53, Paducah; Prostitution and Resisting Arrest
Benny L. Dawson, 38, Paducah; Prostitution
Natasha L. Henson, 35, Hardin (Kentucky); Prostitution. Possession of Marijuana and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Stefoni M. Beasley, 28, Paducah; Prostitution, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Sarah Taber, 25, no address given; Prostitution and Fleeing/Evading Police
Sheva Baht Israel Ohara, 25, Oak Grove (Kentucky); Prostitution and Possession of Marijuana
Michael Treas, 45, Benton (Kentucky); Solicitation of Prostitution
Delandra Stubblefield, 22, Hickman (Kentucky); Prostitution
Jose Gonzalez, 29, Suwanee, Georgia; Solicitation of Prostitution
Joel Virgen Marquez, 31, Mexico; Solicitation of Prostitution (no word on his legal status, but one can guess.)
In the past, many arrested in these stings are allowed to plead the felonies down to various misdemeanors; it'll be interesting to see where this particular bust and set of charges go.
