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Pleasanton police arrested 11 men Thursday during an undercover prostitution sting operation at a local hotel.
To conduct the sting operation, “undercover officers used a fictitious profile to create an online advertisement designed to attract commercial sex purchasers seeking prostitution services,” police officials said in a statement released Friday.
The operation lasted eight hours, during which time over 40 people responded to the advertisement, 10 of whom agreed to pay money for a sexual act and came to the hotel where officers were waiting, police said.
Another man arrived at the hotel in an attempt to act as the officer’s “pimp.” He “made an agreement to offer protection and other services in exchange for a portion of the proceeds,” police said.
The 11 men were arrested for various crimes, including solicitation of prostitution, resisting arrest, pandering and meeting with a minor with the intention of engaging in lewd or lascivious behavior. Two were arrested on additional felony charges: the one who tried to become a “pimp,” and another who arrived believing the undercover officer was a 15-year-old girl.
The 11 men ranged in age from 25-48, according to Pleasanton police Sgt. Brandon Stocking. One of the suspects was a Pleasanton resident. All were booked at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin.
The Livermore and Hayward police departments also took part in this sting operation.
Stocking said this is not the first operation they have conducted.
“We get occasional complaints from hotels and their guests regarding rooms being rented by suspected prostitutes and seeing men come and go during all hours of the day and night,” he said. “We work to address these individually as they arise but also do occasional proactive enforcement such as this to discourage the purchasing of commercial sex.”
Burglaries, theft, vandalism, etc. all on the rise. But glad to see Pleasanton is spending tens of millions capturing nonviolent people in meaningless raids.
Norm All –
I sincerely doubt a one day operation cost “tens of millions of dollars”, especially considering the entire department’s budget is roughly 28 million dollars.
You should also educate yourself about what prostitution really is. The reality is most of the prostitutes are victims of pimps that sexually exploit them. Impacting the demand for this type of victimization is a big step toward helping the victims of sex trafficking.
Complete waste of time and resources.
Should be legalized and regulated like weed. We should be focusing our resources on real crime.
I do have to admit, it would have been far smarter for the department to pose as being undercover johns, arresting real pimps and freeing any trafficked prostitutes, than to pose as undercover prostitutes to arrest real johns. And it would above probably taken similar amounts of resources.
So there is a good argument here that the department chose to pursue johns out of a sense of “moral” purity rather than any compassion for the real victims.
This is no different than had they posed as drug dealers to arrest addicts—knowing as we do know that addiction is a disease—than posing as buyers and arresting dealers and distributors.
So, and I’m surprised to say it, I find myself agreeing that this was not just a swing and a miss but an intentional hit-by-pitch.
Hey Urmomz,
They didn’t target pimps or traffickers at all here. Just the customers who are completely nonviolent in comparison.
But go on supporting feel-good do-nothing activities like this. And yes this amounts to tens of millions when you account for all the involved departments, jurisdictions, legal activities, etc. You absolute moron.
Sounds like we have a lot of Johns in this discussion, lol. All you losers defending people taking advantage of women kept in sexual slavery are pathetic.
Another good job well done by the Pleasanton Police department.
I recommend that everyone donate $100.00 to the Pleasanton Police officers Association.
It would have been a public service if the Weekly had gone to the Police Blotter and pulled the names for us. Might make interesting reading.
Police taking the easy way out and arresting hapless Johns instead of dangerous pimps.
@urmomz,
I think you don’t understand. They didn’t free, or even help, any of the sex slaves here.
I really don’t care if they arrest johns or not. Not only is prostitution illegal, but it should be so long as it supports sex slavery. But I do care that they should prioritize finding and freeing sex slaves over arresting johns. Use the resources for a better purpose.
It’s all “live and let live” until one’s own kid gets mixed up in the hooking trade.
i’m not looking for the police to be captain save-a-ho. i don’t care about prostitutes, pimps, or johns. i just don’t want them and the ancillary crime they bring in my city. if this sting puts out the word to johns that they might get arrested in pleasanton which makes them go elsewhere for their services, then it is far from the lame “swing and a miss” analogy.
PP,
poignant, intelligent, well thought out response. well done!
So they didn’t arrest any actual pimps or prostitutes?
Swing and a miss.
PP, I suppose you have to decide if this is a crime first. They did pick up someone offering to be a “pimp” according to the article. It would be great if they picked up pimps. As to the prostitutes, I would rather see them offered a chance at real protection and a way out of the business–especially minors. If hotels are complaining and the johns and prostitutes get the message the police are watching, I don’t think that is a swing and a miss.
I just went to the police blotter for 5/31, which I think is the date for this. The blotter isn’t a model of clarity. Content doesn’t always align with column header, but if you’re interested: https://www.cityofpleasantonca.gov/gov/depts/police/blotter.asp#WeeklyArrestLog
Absolutely a swing and a miss. No sex slaves were saved, no pimps were put out of business, no women were given another chance, no pedophiles put away for good.
This could have been just as effective if they parked a police car in front of each suspect hotel. Probably more so as they would have covered more.
Just like the war on drugs, going after prostitution and gambling is a waste. Is putting people in jail, costing taxpayers money, and giving them a criminal record a viable solution..
Rather, we should focus on education, taxation, and treatment.
PP, We don’t know the outcome for the potential pimp or potential pedophile. Just having that record is going to make their futures difficult.
I am not a fan of the oldest profession, but I also don’t see where making it a crime does much good. Legalize and regulate it. Safer for young girls, sex workers, and the clientele.
Buklau
I disagree. This is deserving of enforcement/action over just education/treatment. There is more of a direct link to enslaved people and children vs gambling and drugs. Focusing on these areas is worthy of time and resources but they should be applied more effectively.
I think your suggestion to legalize and regulate (inferred from post) addresses and is worthy of a conversation at a macro level on the topic but doesn’t address this specific subset that the officers focused on here.
Lou,
Swing and a miss on your lame attempt at a insult