Arcadia cracked down on massage parlors, now we find they are monitoring Craigslist and Facebook too. Here’s Alfred Lee’s story:
ARCADIA – Police arrested four people – including a 13-year-old – on prostitution-related charges last week by responding to Craigslist advertisements, officials said.
Arcadia police do not actively monitor Craigslist for advertisements of sexual services. But one officer decided to take initiative in two cases last week, said Sgt. Dean Caputo.
“It was just that one of our guys had heard from somebody else that there was this kind of activity on Craigslist,” Caputo said. “He went looking on the Internet and found people soliciting sex for money in the city of Arcadia.”
The officer called the phone numbers that were advertised and arranged meetings at the Santa Anita Inn.
Police met a female adult there, and after she had allegedly entered a room and offered sexual services for money, officers arrested her on suspicion of solicitation of prostitution.
After repeating that process with a second Craigslist advertisement, officers arrested a 13-year- old girl at the same inn. They also arrested two women in their early 20s, who allegedly had brought the teen to the hotel, on suspicion of pimping and child endangerment. The two arrests were made at 12:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 21, respectively.
“We’ve done things in the past with Craigslist and with Facebook,” Caputo said. “I can think, going way back before Craigslist, of us dealing with a prostitute who had her own Web site.”
