Colorado Springs, CO
Categories:
Tactics Used |
|
---|---|
Reverse stings | ✓ |
Shaming | ✓ |
Auto seizure | ✓ |
Community service | ✓ |
Public education | ✓ |
Neighborhood action | ✓ |
SOAP orders | ✓ |
John school | ✓ |
Letters | ✓ |
Cameras | ✓ |
Web stings | ✓ |
License suspension | ✓ |
Colorado Springs is a city of approximately 465,000 residents, located south of Denver along Interstate 25 in El Paso County, Colorado. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well documented in the city, with 25 underage victims of commercial sexual exploitation and 34 adult victims recovered in Colorado Springs between January and August 2014 alone. There have also been cases of murderers who have specifically targeting prostituted persons in the city.
To curtail prostitution and sex trafficking activity in the city, as well as the wide range of additional felonies always surrounding prostitution markets, Colorado Springs police have conducted periodic street-level reverse stings since at least 1980. In the early 1990s, the CSPD conducted a series of large-scale operations targeting sex buyers. The operations, which employed undercover female officers as decoys, resulted in the arrests of dozens of male sex buyers.
In July 1994, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported that city law enforcement routinely faxed the names of all arrested sex buyers to the press, but their inclusion was at the discretion of local media outlets. It is unclear if the limited publication of arrestees’ names and identities continues to be largely a press choice.
The CSPD diversified its efforts to include stings that target men attempting solicit sex online. In particular, officers have targeted men attempting to purchase sex with minors. Web stings, as they were, have been conducted since at least 2002. Undercover officers have posed as both underage decoys and pimps, advertising sex with a minor on websites suspected to be favored by child predators. As web solicitation often crosses city and county lines, the CSPD has frequently engaged the support of the Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. The CSPD has similarly collaborated with the Task Force on several investigations into domestic minor sex trafficking in the area.
In spring 2015, Colorado Springs police announced they would begin posting the identities of arrested sex buyers to the department’s Facebook page. The identities of six sex buyers were posted to the site in early April 2015; another four convicted men’s identities and arrest photos were publicized in February 2016.
In April 2019, Colorado Springs Police set up a fake Facebook account pretending to be a 16-year-old girl looking for a job. A man allegedly offered to pay her $120 for sex, and was arrested on suspicion of four child prostitution crimes and one count of obscenity. The sex buyer had sent three lewd photos of himself to the fictitious profile on Facebook and then texted more photos to the girl, one a full body shot in a mirror with a unique tattoo on his chest. He tried to persuade the officer posing as a trafficked girl to meet him at a hotel near the Colorado Springs Airport to buy sex.
The Colorado Springs Police Department conducted yet another reverse sting in June 2019 that resulted in the arrest of a man seeking to solicit a minor. As in previous cases, the offender’s information was released to the public in addition to the charges he faces. The operation was conducted at a local hotel where the man was attempting to meet an underage female to engage in prostitution.
In October 2020 a pair of Fort Carson soldiers were among the eight men arrested in a prostitution sting in Colorado Springs. The suspects had allegedly sought to pay to have sex with children under the age of 18. All faced felony charges of soliciting for child prostitution. In February, 2021, a prostitution sting resulted in the arrest of a man seeking to pay to have sex with a child under the age of 18, and he was charged with soliciting for child prostitution.
Key Partners
Key Sources
- Street-Level Reverse Stings:
- “Undercover Officer Intercepts `Johns’ on Prowl for Sex”, Colorado Springs Gazette, April 28 1990.
- “Back Issues”, Colorado Springs Gazette, May 31 1990.
- “Vice Squad No Cupid on Valentine’s Day”, Colorado Springs Gazette, February 15 1991.
- “Back Issues”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 5 1992.
- “Back Issues”, Colorado Springs Gazette, January 21 1993.
- “John-Darmes Arrest 18 in Sex-Buy Sting”, Colorado Springs Gazette, May 1 1993.
- “Court Report Says Exec Sought Teen Prostitute”, Colorado Springs Gazette, September 23 1993.
- “Vice Officers’ Sex-for-Sale Sting Nets 23; `Johns’ Caught Looking for Love in Wrong Places”, Colorado Springs Gazette, November 20 1993.
- “Vice Crackdown Squeezes Rights”, Colorado Springs Gazette, August 8 1994.
- “Prostitution Sting Nets 21 Arrests for Solicitation”, Colorado Springs Gazette, November 1 1994.
- “Briefing”, Colorado Springs Gazette, April 25 1995.
- “Prostitution Sting Produces 18 Arrests”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 31 1995.
- “Sting Operation in Springs Leads to Arrests of 21 Men Suspected of Solicitation”, Colorado Springs Gazette, February 17 1996.
- “Briefing”, Colorado Springs Gazette, June 7 1996.
- “Briefing”, Colorado Spring Gazette, August 23 1996.
- “Briefing”, Colorado Springs Gazette, September 23 1997.
- “Men Arrested for Hiring Prostitutes Unlikely to Do It Again”, FOX News, December 21 2006.
- “Man Witnesses Major Prostitution Bust in Colorado Springs”, NBC/KOAA-TV 5, September 1 2012.
- “Police: Crackdown on Increased Prostitution Activity”, NBC/KOAA-TV 5, September 1 2012.
- “Colorado Springs Massage Parlors Busted in Sting Operation”, Colorado Springs Gazette, August 29 2014.
- Web-Based Reverse Stings, Shaming:
- https://www.kktv.com/2020/8-arrested-in-child-prostitution-sting-all-booked-into-el-paso-county-jail/ (2020)
- https://krdo.com/news/8-men-arrested-during-child-prostitution-sting-in-colorado-springs/ (2020)
- https://www.kktv.com/2021/03/02/man-arrested-during-undercover-prostitution-sting/ (2021)
- https://gazette.com/news/man-arrested-in-colorado-springs-for-suspected-child-prostitution (2021)
- https://gazette.com/news/police-child-prostitution-sting-lands-six-in-el-paso-county-jail (2021)
- Shaming:
- “Aurora Serious about Sweeping Prostitution Off Colfax Avenue”, Colorado Springs Gazette, July 18 1994.
- “CSPD Starts Releasing Mugshots of Johns,” NBC/KOAA-TV 5, April 6 2015.
- “Colorado Springs Police Try Public Shaming to Fight Prostitution,” Colorado Springs Gazette, April 7 2015.
- “Colorado Springs Police Release Names of Four Men Convicted of Soliciting Prostitutes,” FOX/KXRM-TV 21, February 1 2016.
- https://www.kktv.com/content/news/Man-arrested-facing-felony-child-prostitution-charges-511924212.html (2019)
- Web-Based Reverse Stings:
- “Littleton Man Arrested in Child Prostitution Sting”, Colorado Springs Gazette, May 11 2002.
- “Internet Sex Arrest”, CBS/KKTV-TV 11, March 29 2005.
- “Colorado Springs Police Arrest More than 20 during Nationwide Human Trafficking Crack Down,” Colorado Springs Gazette, October 13 2015.
- https://gazette.com/news/colorado-springs-man-facing-charges-of-multiple-child-prostitution-felonies (2019)
- Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:
- “Clown Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Induce Child to Prostitution”, Colorado Springs Gazette, September 7 1988.
- “Professional Clown Gets Probation for Sex Crime”, Colorado Springs Gazette, February 18 1989.
- “Springs Man Found Guilty in Rape Case”, Colorado Springs Gazette, February 25 1989.
- “Topless-Bar Owner May Face More Charges; Minor Allegedly Used as Prostitute”, Colorado Springs Gazette, March 12 1989.
- “Rape Victim Attempting Prostitution, Police Say”, Colorado Springs Gazette, November 2 1990.
- “Sex Crime Convictions of Springs Man Upheld on Appeal; Kidnapping Charge Must Be Reduced, Judges Say”, Colorado Springs Gazette, March 15 1991.
- “Springs Kidnapping Conviction Upheld; Victim Was Grabbed on Busy Street”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 20 1992.
- “Man Arrested on Suspicion of Sexually Assaulting a Child”, Colorado Springs Gazette, July 24 1999.
- “Suspected Molester Arrested Before”, Colorado Springs Gazette, July 24 1999.
- “Gifts Allegedly Traded for Sex; Police: Victims Given Pagers, Cash”, Colorado Springs Gazette, August 7 1999.
- “Man Charged with Assaulting Teen Girls”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 27 2000.
- “Springs Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault on Child, Exploitation”, Colorado Springs Gazette, March 7 2001.
- “Briefly Metro; Man Suspected of Sexual Assault”, Colorado Springs Gazette, May 25 2007.
- “Man Jailed in Possible Sex Assaults on Teens”, Colorado Springs Gazette, May 26 2007.
- “Briefly Metro; Man Arrested in Child-Sex Case”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 11 2007.
- “Task Force: Human Trafficking Is Here”, ABC/KRDO-TV 13, May 10 2011.
- “Human and Child Trafficking on the Rise”, Our Colorado News, February 12 2012.
- “Children Sold for Sex on the Web”, ABC/KRDO-TV 13, November 12 2012.
- “Missing Model May Be Victim of Colorado Sex Traffickers: Authorities”, New York Daily News, November 26 2012.
- “Gang Members Indicted in Front Range, Springs Child Sex Ring”, Colorado Springs Gazette, December 10 2012.
- “CO Attorney General: Child Sex Trafficking a ‘Serious Problem'”, ABC/KRDO-TV 13, December 11 2012.
- “Colorado Springs Prostitution Sting Nets 10 Arrests”, FOX/KXRM-TV 21, June 24 2014.
- “Colorado Springs Police Arrest 10 during National Child Sex Trafficking, Prostitution Crackdown”, Colorado Springs Gazette, June 25 2014.
- “Colorado Springs Massage Parlors Busted in Sting Operation”, Colorado Springs Gazette, August 29 2014.
- “Affidavit: Customers Leaving Colorado Springs Massage Parlors Admitted Sex Was Offered”, Colorado Springs Gazette, November 1 2014.
- “3 Arrested in Human Trafficking, Child Prostitution Case,” FOX/KXRM-TV 21, April 3 2015.
- http://www.kktv.com/content/news/Human-trafficking-suspect-arrested-in-Springs-480540631.html (2018)
- http://gazette.com/colorado-springs-man-suspected-of-sex-trafficking-and-pimping-arrested/article/1624823 (2018)
- Background on Prostitution in the Area:
- “Prostitutes Get a Proposition from Springs; Stay Away to Keep Freedom”, Colorado Springs Gazette, June 1 1989.
- “Man Arrested in Prostitution Investigation”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 6 1990.
- “City Takes Aim at Prostitution; New Sweeps Net Sex-Sale Suspects”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 16 1991.
- “Citizens Demand Police Crackdown on Prostitution”, Colorado Springs Gazette, April 13 1993.
- “Police Arrest Alleged Prostitutes”, Colorado Springs Gazette, April 23 1997.
- “City Eyes Licensing Escorts `to Weed Out’ Illegitimate Services”, Colorado Springs Gazette, May 26 1999.
- “Briefing; Council Votes to License Escort Services”, Colorado Springs Gazette, June 23 1999.
- “Sex for Money Thrives Locally; Massage Parlors Often Not Licensed”, Colorado Springs Gazette, January 18 2004.
- “Sex Trade Moves from Streets to Net”, Colorado Springs Gazette, April 15 2007.
- “Metro Vice Prostitution Sting, Kyoto Served with Eviction”, NBC/KOAA-TV 5, January 14 2008.
- “City Sees Reduction in Drug and Sex Crime Arrests”, FOX/KXRM-TV 21, December 9 2008.
- “5 Arrested for Prostitution and Pimping Activities”, FOX/KXRM-TV 21, November 4 2009.
- “Prostitution Practically Legal in Pikes Peak Region”, ABC/KRDO-TV 13, May 4 2011.
- “Alleged Prostitution in No Man’s Land”, NBC/KOAA-TV 5, September 22 2012.
- https://www.kktv.com/2020/12/16/colorado-springs-massage-parlor-owner-suspected-of-pimping-and-keeping-a-place-of-prostitution/ (2020)
- https://krdo.com/news/2020/12/15/colorado-springs-massage-parlor-owner-arrested-for-prostitution-charges/ (2020)
- Documented Violence against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:
- “Informants Link Suspect to Second Springs Slaying”, Colorado Springs Gazette, September 15 1988.
- “Woman Stabbed to Death”, Colorado Springs Gazette, September 15 1988.
- “Workers Find Woman’s Body near Colorado 115”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 19 1988.
- “Two Dead Prostitutes Knew Same Drug Dealers, Police Say”, Colorado Springs Gazette, October 26 1988.
- “Woman Seriously Injured in Shooting; Victim Left for Dead on Springs Street”, Colorado Springs Gazette, January 12 1989.
- “Rape Victim Attempting Prostitution, Police Say”, Colorado Springs Gazette, November 2 1990.
- “Springs Man Arrested in 1988 Murder Case”, Colorado Springs Gazette, July 23 1997.
- “Fort Carson Soldier Arrested on Suspicion of Attempted Murder, Soliciting Prostitution,” Colorado Springs Gazette, December 19 2014.
State | Colorado |
Type | City |
Population | 464871 |
Location |
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