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Prostitution sting nets 28 arrests in unincorporated San Leandro

samsung1

Ohio

SAN LEANDRO -- Authorities arrested 28 people, including two minors, in a prostitution sting Wednesday in unincorporated San Leandro, police said.
Nine people were arrested on suspicion of felony counts, and 19 others were taken into custody on suspicion of committing a misdemeanor, said Lt. Colby Staysa of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office.
Two people were arrested on suspicion of felony pimping and pandering, and seven others were arrested on suspicion of felony possession of methamphetamine or possession of drug paraphernalia, Staysa said.
Those suspected of felonies are expected to be arraigned by Friday at the Hayward Hall of Justice.
Those taken into custody on misdemeanor counts, including 10 women arrested on suspicion of prostitution and nine men arrested on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute, were booked and released on a promise to appear later in court, police said.
Two of the suspected prostitutes are minors, and authorities are investigating their cases, Staysa said.
"We were looking for youths who may have been exploited and forced into prostitution," he said.
Nine vehicles were towed in the sting, which began about noon at a hotel in the unincorporated area of Ashland, police said.
The operation targeted websites that advertised prostitutes, as authorities solicited "johns" and prostitutes who visit those sites, then had them agree to meet at a local hotel "where the sexual act was negotiated,"

Staysa said. "The officers then took the offender into custody."
The multiagency effort was led by investigative units at the Sheriff's Office Eden Township Substation, and assisted by the Sexual Assault and Felony Enforcement Task Force, the Dublin Police Department and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
"It was an Internet-based decoy operation that intended to impact prostitution and the criminal activities associated with it," Staysa said.

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