Atlantic City, NJ
Categories:
Tactics Used |
|
---|---|
Auto Seizure | ✓ |
Buyer Arrests | ✓ |
Cameras | ✓ |
Community Service | ✓ |
Employment Loss | ✓ |
Identity Disclosure | ✓ |
IT Based Tactics | ✓ |
John School | ✓ |
Letters | ✓ |
License Suspension | ✓ |
Neighborhood Action | ✓ |
Public Education | ✓ |
Reverse Stings | ✓ |
SOAP Orders | ✓ |
Web Stings | ✓ |
Atlantic City is a resort community with about 38,000 residents, located on New Jersey’s Atlantic coast. It is a major tourism destination, known for its many casinos, nightclubs, beaches, and a boardwalk. Atlantic City has had a well-known, longstanding, and robust commercial sex market. The market was historically street-level and hotel-based, and has more recently (since the mid-2000s) been augmented by web-facilitated prostitution and sex trafficking.
Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. The first known use of reverse stings in Atlantic City occurred in 1979. More recently, police arrested six men in a street-based reverse sting in June 2012, and seven were arrested in April 2013. Police supplement reverse stings by releasing identities of arrestees to the news media, and seizing vehicles of individuals arrested for prostitution-related offenses.
In November 2020, the AC City Council President suggested that publicly shaming those who solicit prostituted persons by displaying their mugshots on the Boardwalk digital displays or imposing hefty fines on operators of illegal housing units — prime locations for both drug dealing and prostitution — would send a message that Atlantic City will no longer turn a blind eye to people brazenly flouting the law.
Key Partners
- Atlantic City Police Department’s Special Investigation Unit
- Atlantic County Sheriff’s Office
- FBI’s Lost Innocence Task Force
Key Sources
Reverse Stings:
- “Man Convicted of Prostitution”, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, July 25 1979.
- “35 Face Vice Charges; Sweep Targets Pacific Avenue”, Press of Atlantic City, March 31 1990.
- “Atlantic City Vice Squad Turns Up Heat on the Street”, Press of Atlantic City, August 18 1991.
- “Senator Targets Atlantic City Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, April 24 1993.
- “Undercover Cops Join Atlantic City Prostitution Crackdown”, Press of Atlantic City, August 6 1993.
- “A.C. Police Charge 20 ‘Johns’ with Engaging in Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, September 6 1997.
- “A.C. Prostitution Sting Ends in Arrest of 31 ‘Johns'”, Press of Atlantic City, July 18 1998.
- “Undercover Prostitution Stings Nets 10 Arrests”, Press of Atlantic City, August 3 1999.
- “3 More Verdicts Reached in City Prostitution Sting”, Vineland Daily Journal, November 13 2004.
- “Police Nab 136 in Prostitution Sweep in Atlantic City”, Press of Atlantic City, August 12 2005.
- “Anti-Prostitution Sting Targets ‘Johns’ in Atlantic City”, Press of Atlantic City, February 20 2007.
- “35 Nabbed in Latest Atlantic City Prostitution Sting”, Press of Atlantic City, September 17 2008.
- “Atlantic City Police Nab 23 Johns in Reverse Prostitution Sting”, Press of Atlantic City, August 23 2009.
- “2-Day Prostitution Sweep in A.C. Leads to 28 Arrests”, FOX/WTXF-TV 29, June 10 2012.
- “Police Pose as Prostitutes, Arrest 7”, NBC/WCAU-TV 7, April 21 2013.
Identity Disclosure:
- “Atlantic City Weighs Publicizing of ‘Johns'”, New York Times, May 15 1982.
- “Sound Off; Next Week’s Topic: Curbing Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, May 1 1993.
- https://pressofatlanticcity.com/atlantic-city-police-put-drug-dealers-pimps-johns-on-notice/ (2020)
Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:
- “Atlantic City Prostitution Suspect Accused in Rape of Mass. Teen”, Press of Atlantic City, April 1 1995.
- “Two Charged in Sex Attacks on 3 Runaways”, Press of Atlantic City, January 15 2000.
- “Thai Man Convicted in FBI Hit Plot, Prostitution Ring”, Press of Atlantic City, December 18 2003.
- “Atlantic City Prostitution Ring Broken, Feds Say”, Reading Eagle, March 26 2004.
- “Atlantic City Police Arrest N.Y. Man for Promoting Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, May 2 2004.
- “New York Men Charged with Forcing Teens into Atlantic City Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, July 1 2006.
- “Man Charged with Promoting Prostitution with Minors”, Press of Atlantic City, October 14 2006.
- “Atlantic City Police Prostitution Sting Nets 19”, Press of Atlantic City, January 22 2008.
- “Man Sentenced in Prostitution of Sisters, 14 and 16”, Press of Atlantic City, August 5 2008.
- “Man Sentenced for Taking Minors to Atlantic City for Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, January 9 2009.
- “Woman Abducted in Atlantic City Found”, Newark Star-Ledger, August 15 2009.
- “Man Admits Running Prostitution Ring That Brought Girls as Young as 14 to Atlantic City”, Press of Atlantic City, August 20 2010.
- “Men Sentenced to 15 Years for Atlantic City Sex Trafficking”, Newark Star-Ledger, September 16 2011.
- “Edison Man Allegedly Enslaved Women in High-Priced Prostitution Ring”, NJToday.com, November 12 2013.
- “Atlantic City Man Indicted in Alleged Human Trafficking and Prostitution Ring”, Press of Atlantic City, December 21 2013.
- “Edison Man Pleads Guilty to Luring, Coercing Women into Prostitution Ring”, Newark Star-Ledger, February 11 2014.
- “Middlesex Pimp, Girlfriend Admit Roles in NJ Human Trafficking Prostitution Ring”, Cliffview Pilot, February 11 2014.
- https://pressofatlanticcity.com/atlantic-city-police-rescue-woman-from-prostitution-arrest-two (2021)
- https://pressofatlanticcity.com/prison-inmate-atlantic-city-found-guilty-sex-trafficking-prostitution (2023)
- https://catcountry1073.com/tahir-gregory-atlantic-city-nj-prison-sentence-60-years/ (2023)
Background on Prostitution in the Area:
- “2 Men Accused of Using Wives for Prostitution”, Baltimore Sun, September 16 1937.
- “Resort Assailed on Vice Conditions; Federal Grand Jury Slams Atlantic City ‘Dereliction’ for the Situation”, New York Times, January 15 1938.
- “Convention Girls: ‘Glitter’ Lures Young, Pretty”, Calgary Herald, October 26 1970.
- “Mail-Order Prostitution Charged”, Ellensburg Daily Record, April 20 1973.
- “Atlantic City Cracks Down on Prostitution”, St. Petersburg Times, November 8 1978.
- “Casino Prostitutes: They Come Out at Night in Atlantic City to Try Their Luck”, St. Petersburg Independent, December 21 1978.
- “Prostitutes Get Police Warning in Atlantic City; Jail Terms to Be Sought”, New York Times, August 10 1979.
- “Sheik-Down Cruise for Hookers in A.C.”, Philadelphia Daily News, July 25 1984.
- “Atlantic City Undercover Sting Against Prostitutes Nets 20”, Bangor Daily News, August 28 1984.
- “Oldest Game in Town; Atlantic City Tries to Put Squeeze on Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, August 18 1991.
- “Atlantic City Police Investigations Result in Arrests for Drugs, Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, January 29 1993.
- “Prostitute Helps Nab 7 in Cash Scam”, Press of Atlantic City, May 31 1995.
- “Police Raid Atlantic City Massage Parlors”, Press of Atlantic City, October 8 1998.
- “Vice Unit Raids Atlantic City Hotel, Alleges It Is House of Prostitution”, Press of Atlantic City, July 28 1999.
- “Atlantic City, Feds Team Up for Prostitution Raid”, Press of Atlantic City, July 11 2002.
- “Atlantic City Police Continue Prostitution Crackdown”, Press of Atlantic City, February 15 2005.
- “Major Drug Problem Feeds Atlantic City Sex Trade”, Press of Atlantic City, November 28 2006.
- “Police Arrest More than Two-Dozen People in Weekend Sweep of Prostitution, Drugs, and Disorderly Persons on Pacific Avenue”, Press of Atlantic City, August 30 2010.
- “16 People Arrested in Atlantic City Prostitution Sting”, Press of Atlantic City, September 23 2012.
- “Leader of Prostitution Ring Sentenced”, Trentonian, November 12 2013.
- https://pressofatlanticcity.com/10-arrested-in-atlantic-city-prostitution-operation (2020)
- https://nj1015.com/casinos-say-atlantic-city-needs-to-clean-up-its-drug-addicts-and-prostitutes/ (2020)
Documented Violence Against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:
- “Man Charged in Attack on Prostitute”, Press of Atlantic City, March 3 1989.
- “So Close to the Glitter of Atlantic City, A Corridor of Death for Four Women”, New York Times, November 23 2006.
- “Business as Usual for A.C. Prostitutes; Slayings Unlikely to Slow a Vast Sex Trade That’s Accustomed to Risks”, Philadelphia Inquirer, December 3 2006.
- “In Glittery Atlantic City, 4 Walked Deadly Path”, New York Times, December 5 2006.
- “A Year Later, Deaths of Four Prostitutes Unsolved”, Park City Daily News, November 19 2007.
- “Two Years Later, Four Atlantic City Prostitute Deaths Unsolved”, Philadelphia Daily News, November 21 2008.
- “After 3 Years, Prostitutes’ Killings Still a Mystery”, Philadelphia Inquirer, November 22 2009.
State | New Jersey |
Type | City |
Population | 38466 |
Location |
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