Lancaster County, PA
Categories:
Tactics Used |
|
---|---|
Reverse stings | ✓ |
Shaming | ✓ |
Auto seizure | ✓ |
Community service | ✓ |
Public education | ✓ |
Neighborhood action | ✓ |
SOAP orders | ✓ |
John school | ✓ |
Letters | ✓ |
Cameras | ✓ |
Web stings | ✓ |
License suspension | ✓ |
Lancaster County is located in southeast Pennsylvania. Lancaster is the county seat and largest city in Lancaster County. Prostitution has a long history in the county, as documented in historical documents dating back to the 1880s and through Temperance efforts to abolish the open trade in brothels in the early 1900s. In contemporary times, prostitution has posed persistent and visible problems in the area, and has generated numerous complaints to police. The community has also documented cases of sex trafficking of minors, and targeted homicides of women selling sex. For example, in November 2013 a 17-year-old girl was among seven people charged in a prostitution investigation at motels along Route 30 in East Lampeter Township. Two alleged pimps were among those also arrested in the investigation. The juvenile was released to her parents. Officials said prostitution has long been an issue along the Route 30 strip, particularly in inexpensive motel rooms, and that the problem has grown in recent years.
To reduce demand for commercial sex, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office has worked with local police departments to incorporate the use of street-level reverse stings since the early 1990s. Operations involve the use of an undercover female officer as a decoy. When johns solicit sex from the officer, they are promptly arrested. Police often release arrestees’ names, ages, photos, and other identifying information to the local media.
In March 2014, seven people were charged in a sting operation at hotels in East Lampeter Township; four males were charged with misdemeanor patronizing prostitution, and their identities were released to news outlets. A similar operation by East Lampeter Township Police at hotels in the community resulted in the arrest of seven men who were charged with Patronizing Prostitutes. In June 2015, a female undercover Lancaster PD officer posed as a decoy “in a neighborhood where residents reported prostitution and illegal behavior,” apprehending nine johns in the process. All of the arrestees’ names ran in press. Similar operations in July and October of 2018 produced the arrest of 10 and 9 sex buyers, respectively, in reverse stings conducted in various sections of the county. In November, 2016 seven men were charged in a Lancaster County web-based prostitution sting at hotels in East Lampeter Township. The encounters occurred in neighborhoods that are regularly frequented by actual street level prostitutes that often occur in residential neighborhoods. Authorities say prostitution is an ongoing problem in Lancaster County, and is directly linked to drug and alcohol addiction affecting both prostitutes and customers.
In July, 2019 the fourth annual report was released by the Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Pennsylvania at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. The report presented county-level data on arrests for purchasing sex in Pennsylvania (the state has separate statutes for buying versus selling sex) during calendar year 2018. The report’s data comes from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, and during 2018 there were 21 arrested sex buyers in Lancaster County that were charged under the statute for purchasing sex (18 Pa.C.S. § 5902(e)). It is important to note that there may have been larger numbers of arrested sex buyers, since some cities and counties may choose to handle such cases by issuing civil citations for violating prostitution ordinances in local courts or magistrate’s offices, rather than charging with a state criminal offenses in district courts.
Key Partners
- Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office
- Lancaster Police Department
- East Lampeter Township Police Department
Key Sources
Street-Level Reverse Stings and Shaming:
- “Prostitution Keeps Police Busy, Neighbors on Alert; Lancaster Area Plagued by Aggressive Sex Trade”, Allentown Morning Call, October 5 1998.
- “Cops Bust Prostitutes and Johns”, Lancaster Sunday News, March 10 2002.
- “E. Lampeter Man Not Guilty of Solicitation”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, July 6 2005.
- “Water Street Crackdown Nets 10 Men”, Lancaster Sunday News, July 17 2005.
- “Prostitution Sweep Nets 11, Including Known Sex Offender”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, August 22 2005.
- “Prostitution Sting Nabs Five in City”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, March 27 2006.
- “Man Had Rigged a Bomb”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, August 20 2006.
- “Undercover Operation Leads to 7 Being Charged”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, October 3 2008.
- “Prostitution Detail Nets Four Men”, Lancaster Sunday News, November 16 2008.
- “VIDEO: Undercover Prostitution Sting”, CBS/WHP-TV 21, November 26 2009.
- “Prostitution Sting Leads to 7 Arrests”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, March 10 2010.
- “7 Men Charged After Allegedly Soliciting Prostitute; One Crashes Car While Fleeing”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, April 1 2010.
- “6 Charged with Soliciting for Sex”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, April 16 2010.
- “6 Nabbed in Prostitution Sting”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, May 1 2010.
- “Police Log”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, June 17 2010.
- “5 Men Arrested during Prostitution Sting in Lancaster”, Allentown Morning Call, March 19 2011.
- “5 Men Face Charges of Soliciting a Prostitute”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, March 19 2011.
- “Prostitution Sting Nets 3 Arrests in Lancaster City”, FOX/WPMT-TV 43, May 24 2013.
- “Four Men Charged in Lancaster Prostitution Sting”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, June 20 2013.
- “Four Men Offer Undercover Officer Money for Sexual Act”, CBS/WHP-TV 21, June 20 2013.
- “Lancaster Police Crack Down on Prostitution”, ABC/WHTM-TV 27, June 20 2013.
- “Police Arrest ‘Johns’ in Lancaster Street Prostitution Sting”, FOX/WPMT-TV 43, June 20 2013.
- “4 Arrested in City Sting”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, June 21 2013.
- “Four Arrested in Lancaster Prostitution Investigation”, Carlisle Sentinel, June 21 2013.
- “Five Arrested in City Prostitution Sting”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, January 31 2014.
- “Five Arrested in Lancaster Area Undercover Prostitution Sting”, Carlisle Sentinel, February 1 2014.
- “Undercover Prostitution Investigation Nets Five Arrests in Lancaster, Police Say”, Harrisburg Patriot-News, February 1 2014.
- “Undercover Prostitution Sting Nets 5 Arrests in Lancaster City”, FOX/WPMT-TV 43, February 1 2014.
- “Three Men Arrested in Prostitution Sting in Lancaster, Police Say”, Harrisburg Patriot-News, February 28 2014.
- “Lancaster Police Arrest 11 during Undercover Prostitution Detail,” Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, June 4 2015.
- vhttps://fox43.com/2018/07/30/10-men-facing-charges-after-prostitution-sting-in-lancaster/ (2018)
- https://fox43.com/2018/10/25/8-men-1-woman-arrested-in-lancaster-during-undercover-prostitution-sting/ (2018)
- https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/men-charged-with-soliciting-prostitution-in-lancaster-after-undercover-sting (2018)
- https://www.abc27.com/news/local/lancaster/lancaster-police-arrest-9-for-soliciting-prostitution (2018)
- http://lancasteronline.com/news/policelog/lancaster-county-police-log-saturday-april
- http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/04/prostitution_sting
- http://www.pennlive.com/news/2016/11/police_arrest_11_in_lancaster
Sex Trafficking in the Area:
- “Police: N.J. Man Forced Woman into Prostitution,” York Dispatch, March 21 2016.
- https://lancasteronline.com/a-massage-parlor-sting-led-to-more-training-for-a-detective (2019)
Background on Prostitution in the Area:
- https://www.google.com/Jenkins.1998 Prostitution in Progressive Era Lancaster (1998)
- “Man Gets Jail for Extortion; Emmaus Resident Scammed $170,000 Out of Former Prostitute over Two Years”, Allentown Morning Call, May 13 2000.
- “20 Arrested in City Prostitution Sweep”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, March 11 2002.
- “170 Attend Meeting on City Crime; Guns and Vice among Southwest’s Complaints”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, November 14 2002.
- “In Another Time, They Tamed Town”, Lancaster Sunday News, April 27 2003.
- “Lancaster Was Wide Open”, Lancaster Sunday News, November 2 2003.
- “ACLU Suit Forces City to Abandon Loitering Law”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, March 12 2004.
- “City Council Repeals Drug, Prostitution Anti-Loitering Laws”, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era, June 23 2004.
- “Police: Man Complained over Prostitute Theft in Lancaster”, Carlisle Sentinel, April 4 2011.
- https://lancasteronline.com/lancaster-woman-convicted-sentenced-for-east-lampeter-township-prostitution-sting (2019)
- http://www.abc27.com/story/23887216/7-arrested-for-prostitution-at-east-lampeter-hotels
- http://lancasteronline.com/news/seven-charged-with-prostitution-at-east-lampeter-twp-motels/article
- http://www.wgal.com/news/susquehanna-valley/lancaster/7-arrested-in-connection-with-ongoing-prostitution-investigation
- http://web.co.lancaster.pa.us/832/Lancaster-County-Chiefs-of-Police-Associ
- http://news.silobreaker.com/ksby-investigates-sex-trafficking-on-the-central-coast
- http://www.ydr.com/ci_
- https://lancasteronline.com/a-massage-parlor-sting-led-to-more-training-for-a-detective (2019)
- https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/woman-at-new-holland-health-spa-arrested-for-prostitution (2019)
State | Pennsylvania |
Type | County |
Population | 542903 |
Location |
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