According to a Woodland Police press release, the Woodland Police Department and Yolo County District Attorney’s Office conducted a sting targeting those who would solicit or attempt to buy sex acts.
Basically the police and DA’s office created fictitious advertisements and used them to lure men who responded to them.
The press release describes the operation as follows: “During the course of the operation, 5 male subjects responded to a fictitious advertisement via text message and solicited sex acts with undercover officers. After agreeing to meet with who they thought was a prostitute, each of the men who responded to the advertisement was arrested.”
All of the men arrested were booked at the Yolo County Jail, where they were each charged with Penal Code section 647(b) – solicitation of prostitution, a misdemeanor.
The release states, “Prostitution and sex trafficking is a pervasive industry that especially exploits women and children. In this illicit trade, women and children are often coerced to live in dangerous and violent conditions. Although viewed as a victimless crime by some, the sex-trafficking industry subjects women and children to a cycle of trauma and degradation that can permanently impact them and their families.”
An article in the Woodland Daily Democrat quotes Woodland PD Sgt. Dallas Hyde saying the same as the press release: “Prostitution and sex trafficking is a pervasive industry that especially exploits women and children. In 
this illicit trade, women and children are often coerced to live in dangerous and violent conditions.”
He added, as did the press release, “Although viewed as a victimless crime by some, the sex-trafficking industry subjects women and children to a cycle of trauma and degradation that can permanently impact them and their families.”
Supervisor Matt Rexroad, posting on Facebook, wrote, “Jeff Reisig and his staff are doing great work on this issue. I used to think that this was behavior between two consenting adults but that is not the reality. Most of the time the person being sold is basically a slave.”
The release adds, “The Woodland Police Department and Yolo County District Attorney’s Office will continue to conduct operations designed to identify and arrest those who participate in the prostitution and sex-trafficking industries.”
I don’t dispute the fact that sex trafficking is a serious problem and far from a victimless crime. The question that I have is whether this type of operation does anything but nail a few horny guys who were not seeking to commit crimes and not actually involved in any sex trafficking operation.
While this does not meet the legal definition of entrapment, it is pretty close. It is one thing if you have a sting operation that goes out to a known location for prostitutes and catches men that are going out of their way to attempt to solicit sex with a prostitute. But that is not what is happening here.
You are not catching people who are involved in trafficking sex workers. You are not taking people who are sex workers and getting them off the streets.
Instead, what you are doing is catching a few men who are responding to an ad. Are these people that you are catching actively seeking such ads? Are they going to a place that is known for sex ads? The release did not say and Sgt. Hyde would not disclose where the ad was placed or how long it took for the advertisement to go out before the subjects responded.
Sex trafficking may be a serious crime, but this seems more like nailing targets of opportunity rather than actually combating the serious elements of this deep and complex relationship.
Arresting a few people willing to buy sex if they get the opportunity to do so isn’t targeting this problem – it is generating news and headlines. It isn’t going to solve the problem, it is probably just going to mess up a few people’s marriages and lives.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Oh the poor guys, they were only out looking for a little on the side.
My question is still are you snagging would-be criminals or creating them?
The answer is “yes”.
Those who are inclined to “pay for sex” will find a way to do so. Few men (%-age) pay for sex… the vast majority don’t need to.
“solicitation of prostitution, a misdemeanor.”
“Jeff Reisig and his staff are doing great work on this issue. I used to think that this was behavior between two consenting adults but that is not the reality. Most of the time the person being sold is basically a slave.”
The real danger that I see here is that this kind of “sting” operation convinces very well intentioned individuals such as Sup. Rexroad that the DA is “doing great work on this issue”. Scooping up a few individuals who are not major players in prostitution for a misdemeanor does virtually nothing in my opinion to reduce the real crime of human trafficking. The time and money spent on catching these bit players,who will not be able to provide information leading to pimps or traffickers, does virtually nothing to protect enslaved individuals.
It’s the ‘low-hanging fruit’… the more serious stuff takes a lot more time and effort.
In saying that, Tia, I agree that the resources should be focused getting rid of the harder-to-get, more poisonous fruit.
He could always take on the all-important “conspiracy to hire unlicensed contractors” issue.
The better solution seen with sex trafficking is to devote available resources to those higher up in the food chain, rather the supply source. The supply source being a few horny married men whose apprehension and exposure messes up their respective lives.
Multiple assumptions are made that affects the entire content and merit of this entire story. We’ll concede for the sake of argument that the men arrested were horny.
The prostitutes are part of an organized group involved in sex trafficking. So says the Sheriff and the DA. How was that determined? What information was given to support this notion? The johns sure wouldn’t know, and they were the only ones arrested.
Many prostitutes are independent contractors and belong to no organized ring of sex traffickers.
The suspects arrested are married, were told with no confirmation. Their domestic lives are jeopardized by this arrest and public exposure. Shame on the police for bringing a voluntary-engaged illegal act to public attention.The spouse will be upset.
Well the very easy retort to that criticism is that we assign blame to the men who willingly engaged in an illegal act of prostitution–and should bear personal responsibility for messing up their own domestic relationships.
The Sheriff should devote his resources to identifying and prosecuting the leadership of the sex trafficking ring. The head of the snake if you will. Two major problems with that over-simplistic alternative to curbing sex trafficking.
Devoting the necessary resources and time “combating the serious elements of this deep and complex relationship” how shall this be done? It would require a supplemental appropriation of tens of thousands of dollars, possibly more.
Undercover female operatives will pose as street prostitutes under police surveillance, but do not engage in sex. An undercover agent probing into the sex trade away from the street scene would have to be willing to engage in non-consensual sex acts–become a sex slave herself. How shall the Sheriff recruit such persons?
David:
Good grief. You can try to say you are an objective observer of the justice system in Yolo County but this post proves otherwise.
Your dislike for the DA is so clear you will not even give him credit for something that is so obviously a good thing.
I have spent quite a bit of time with the team going after sex trafficking in Yolo County and this is just one piece of s larger puzzle. They are doing great work and have the complete cooperation with the law enforcement teams with each city. They are doing good work in a tough area.
Would they have liked to catch the big fish that are trafficking people? Of course.
Would they have like to have freed dozens of women/men that are slaves? Of course.
They didn’t do that here… but to view this as something that is not an accomplishment is shallow. When people do good things recognize it.
One of the problems in this policy area is that the men (Johns) don’t really face any penalties. They need to suffer from victimizing these women. They need to feel it at home and in the wallet. The sick thing is that many of them have regular jobs and families — but do this on the side. They need to know this is wrong. This is one step in that direction.
Matt Rexroad
(916) 539-0455
I have a fundamental problem with this approach. It is one thing if you are catching people who otherwise would be committing crimes and get them to solicit an undercover. In that case, you’re actually taking someone who would victimize someone and charging them with a crime.
My problem here is that we have no way if we are actually catching people who would otherwise be committing crimes or in fact inventing crimes where they don’t exist.
This isn’t about the DA or the PD, this about having a problem with this approach from law enforcement.
It’s like a case I covered last year where the guy was convinced by the under cover to steal cars and sell them to undercovers. The guy wasn’t stealing cars until the police convinced him to do it.
We are in agreement on this issue. It’s like offering so sell a hot Rolex to passersby at the farmers market and then arresting them for conspiracy to buy stolen property.
Complete waste of time.
It is an opportunity for the stoner church to expand to “church of the online solicitation” in which case all of their activities are “covered”.
Matt
I also weighed in, but for somewhat different reasons. You state that they need to feel it at home and in the wallet. I think that you may be forgetting who else will be harmed by hitting them in those locations. I am thinking of the “collateral damage” of their wives and children. Whether the issue is prostitution or whether it is an affair, it is often the innocents at home who pay the highest price. This is 100% on the man ( and his partner) in the case of an affair, but when it comes to the issue of a “sting” or “entrapment” depending on how you see this, the police and /or DA are complicit in the harm done to the innocent bystanders. While this might be justified if you managed to liberate a number of victims of human trafficking, I really must question it when no innocent is saved, but potentially many harmed.