Police explain prostitution sting

Within 10 hours of posting an online ad for a sex-for-money exchange, Corvallis detectives received almost 30 phone call inquiries.

Police cited eight men for prostitution, a Class A misdemeanor, after they allegedly made specific sex-for-money agreements with undercover officers and then followed through by meeting up at a specific place. Five of the suspects are in their 20s and gave a Corvallis address, as did a 38-year-old. The rest include a 51-year-old from Junction City and a 39-year-old from Monroe. They have not yet been arraigned in court.

The purpose of the sting operation was to discourage sex providers and customers from engaging in the illegal transaction, which often is linked to child sex abuse, robbery, assault and drug use, Lt. Det. Cord Wood of the Corvallis Police Department said.

It's difficult to provide statistics about how much prostitution and associated crime goes on in Corvallis because people don't report it, Wood said, and arrests are rare. But he said that anecdotal evidence suggests prostitution is common.

Wood said a man recently called police to report that a woman stole his wallet while at his residence in a sex-for-money exchange.

“To gauge the number of thefts, assaults and robberies (associated with prostitution) is difficult because I really believe those are under-reported,” Wood said.

In November, the Corvallis Police Department helped Albany police in a similar sting that Wood said targeted sex providers and customers. Five of the 10 customers who were arrested were from Corvallis.

Detectives last Friday placed an ad on one site, but they have seen multiple ads on multiple sites that advertise sex for money in Corvallis, Wood said. The number of those who responded to the police unit's ad speaks for itself, he said.

“Well, in 10 hours, almost 30 men called trying to establish a time to come and pay a woman for prostitution, and we obviously have no idea how many of those men followed through with someone else,” he said. “We shut down at 11:30 that night but could have continued well into night. We were still getting calls well into the night.”

Wood doesn't recall any local, recent cases of youth becoming prostitutes.

“In Corvallis, no,” he said. “In and around us, yes.”

The public can expect more sting operations in the future.

“We do them at random intervals,” Wood said. “One time we may focus on the customers; the next time we may focus on the providers — the prostitutes themselves.”

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