News

Woman Accused Of Offering Sex For World Series Tickets On Craigslist

2009-10-28 01:06:50

A Philadelphia woman was arrested Tuesday after she allegedly posted an ad on Craigslist offering to perform sex acts in exchange for World Series tickets, MyFoxPhilly reported.

Susan Finkelstein, 43, was charged with prostitution and related offenses after police say she advertised herself as a buxom, blond, die-hard Phillies fan who was desperately seeking World Series tickets and would have sex to get them.

"I'm the creative type! Maybe we can help each other," authorities say Finkelstein's online ad read. She described herself as "gorgeous" and said her price was negotiable, according to police.

Finkelstein was busted when, authorities say, an undercover officer responded to the Craigslist posting. She allegedly offered to perform sex acts on the officer in exchange for the coveted tickets of the baseball championship between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees.

What Are You Worth In Bed?

2009-06-21 03:32:52

See what you would be worth when you take the test!

http://hellarity.us/worth/index.php

Behind Closed Doors: How Rhode Island Decriminalized Prostitution

2009-06-21 00:26:45

It's been nearly 30 years since Rhode Island granted a green light to indoor prostitution.

Asian spas now offer "body rubs" just blocks from Providence City Hall, and Internet sex sites rate Rhode Island as a destination spot. On weekend nights, out-of-state cars vie for parking spaces outside storefronts with drawn shades and signs that read "Spa."

To understand how Rhode Island became the only state in America to decriminalize prostitution, you have to go back to the mid-1970s, when a powerful politician and devout Roman Catholic named Matty Smith helped advance the cause of a former prostitute named Margo St. James.

Though few recall the details of this chapter in history, three decades later lawmakers are still coping with the consequences.

St. James, founder of the sex workers' rights group COYOTE (Call Off Your Old, Tired Ethics), was traveling the country and Europe to deliver her message about keeping government out of the sex business. During a stop in Rhode Island, she met the owner of a downtown Providence strip club. The police, he told her, were on his back for letting prostitutes hang out at his bar. He offered her a tour of his club. Then, he introduced her to his lawyer.

It was 1976 -- the year that The Hite Report: A Nationwide Study of Female Sexuality became a bestseller and Lorretta Lynn's song "The Pill" climbed the pop charts -- when St. James' group challenged the constitutionality of Rhode Island's prostitution law. In a federal lawsuit, the group argued that the statute was so broad that it could prohibit sex between unmarried adults.

Back then, prostitution in Rhode Island was a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. Yet, despite well-publicized reports of prostitution going on in places such as the Civic View Inn, just down the street from the police station, only a handful of arrests there resulted in convictions, mostly involving small fines and probation.

In the city's West End, residents complained that streetwalkers flagged down cars night and day, and their customers cruised the neighborhood with their windows down, soliciting wives on their way to work and girls waiting for the school bus.

The neighborhood had a powerful ally in Matthew J. "Matty" Smith, then speaker of the House of Representatives. Smith had built his power base by getting things done for his constituents. If a voter said a fallen tree had cracked the sidewalk, he'd call public works. A social conservative, he protested abortion with a lapel pin that depicted a fetus's tiny feet. And he told a Journal reporter he was worried that Roger Williams Park, where his father had once mowed the grass, was becoming a hangout for gays. The West End was part of Smith's district, and he called the prostitution there "sickening and despicable."

BY 1979, as neighborhood groups pressed the police to step up patrols, the trial opened in the civil-rights lawsuit filed by St. James' group. St. James flew from San Francisco to Rhode Island to testify before U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Pettine.

At issue was how much power the state should have to control the sexual activity of its citizens.

Ralph J. Gonnella, the Providence lawyer whom St. James met through a downtown strip club owner, argued that the prostitution law was so broad -- it failed to even mention money - it could make sexual relations between unmarried adults a crime punishable by a $10 fine. And the person who initiated the offer of sex, he argued, could be charged with soliciting and face up to five years in prison. The state, he said, had no right or duty to regulate such private activity between consenting adults.

The lawsuit also alleged discrimination in how the law was being applied, citing data that showed the Providence police were arresting female prostitutes far more often than their male customers.

In September 1979, after four hours of testimony from witnesses, including a prostitute identified only as Jane Doe, each side rested its case.

Back in the West End, the police, on orders from then-Mayor Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci Jr., stepped up their offensive against prostitution. But the system worked like a giant revolving door. Police would round up prostitutes only to see them pay bail and hit the streets again.

As the 1980 General Assembly session opened, Smith said he'd make it his priority to get legislation passed to help rid the neighborhood of prostitution. His ally, state District Court Chief Judge Henry J. Laliberte, spoke up at a meeting at the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The judge was a former city councilman who, like Smith, the House speaker, had grown up on Providence's South Side.

The way to get prostitutes off the streets, the judge told the residents, was to change the law - make prostitution a misdemeanor crime instead of a felony -- to speed prosecution in the courts.

Judge Pettine was still working on his decision in the lawsuit when the General Assembly unanimously approved a bill introduced by Smith to amend the prostitution statute.

ON ITS FACE, the amended law, drafted by Judge Laliberte, achieved its supporters' objectives: It reduced prostitution from a felony to a misdemeanor, allowing cases to move through the courts more quickly. And it added the phrase "for pecuniary gain" in the section on "harboring prostitution." But in rewriting the law, the drafters deleted a section that addressed committing the act of prostitution.

The changes, Judge Pettine and the lawyers agreed, had rendered the lawsuit's claims moot. The judge dismissed the case.

The next year, ruling on Gonnella's request for attorneys' fees, Pettine wrote that the omission "appear[ed] to have decriminalized the sexual act itself, even when undertaken for remuneration." The judge puzzled over why the passage had been deleted, but to him, its effect was clear. And his analysis would prove significant in years to come.

For more than two decades, the omission went largely unnoticed.

Then, in 2003, as brothels posing as massage parlors opened around the city amid reports that Asian women were being forced into prostitution, the Providence police raided four of these "spas." They arrested seven women and one man and seized $9,300 in what they called "Operation Rubdown." The police said the women, all Korean, had come to Rhode Island from New York, New Jersey, Georgia and Oregon to work as prostitutes. In addition to charges of performing massages without a license, four of the women were charged with soliciting for prostitution.

As the case awaited trial, Michael J. Kiselica, a lawyer who was representing the owners of the Midori and Oriental Garden Spas, and city prosecutor Steven L. Catalano agreed to a statement of facts: Three Korean women working at the Midori and Oriental Garden Spas had offered sex for money to undercover police. The prosecutor argued in a written motion that state law prohibits soliciting for prostitution.

But Kiselica, quoting Judge Pettine's analysis of the state's prostitution law, asserted that regardless of what his clients had done, no law was violated. In addition, he said, the state Supreme Court in 1998 ruled in State v. DeMagistris that Rhode Island's law against soliciting was "primarily to bar prostitutes from hawking their wares in public" and could not be applied to convict someone for activity that takes place in private.

State District Court Judge Elaine T. Bucci ruled in favor of the defense and dismissed the case.

Police still tried to shut down brothels over the next couple of years by charging the women with performing a massage without a license or the building owners with violating the criminal-nuisance ordinance. But the prostitution charges went nowhere.

Kiselica has won dismissals of criminal charges against about 15 of his clients who were arrested in spa raids, discouraging police and prosecutors from going after prostitution indoors.

And the number of spas multiplied. Groups that monitor the spa industry have documented more than 30 spas throughout the state, most of them in Providence.

"These are real businesses," said Kiselica, whose clients now include about a half-dozen spa owners. "They pay the taxes that the business owes. They operate within the bounds of the law."

NEARLY 30 YEARS after lawmakers rewrote the prostitution statute, few can recall why it happened.

"We probably vote on 500 bills a year," Sen. John F. McBurney III, the only member of the General Assembly who served in 1980, said recently. McBurney says he can think of only one explanation for why a bill that decriminalized prostitution would win unanimous approval by the General Assembly: "They didn't know what they were voting for."

John C. Revens Jr., a former Senate Majority leader and a lawyer who served in the General Assembly for nearly four decades, agrees.

"They would never sponsor a bill decriminalizing prostitution if they knew what it was," Revens said. "No way. Not in a million years."

(Smith, the former House speaker who got caught in a 1993 court scandal that drove him out of public life, did not respond to phone messages seeking an interview.)

This year, as they have for the last three years, several state lawmakers are pushing to rewrite the 1980 law. A bill that passed the House earlier this month clearly states that anyone who engages in sex for money is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The bill is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Margo St. James, the former prostitute who challenged the prostitution law in the 1970s, hopes Rhode Island keeps the law the way it is.

Now 72, she lives in a family cabin on Orcas Island in Washington with her cat, Lovey Dovey. She moved there from San Francisco with her husband, a newspaper reporter, who died in 2000. Gardening and family visits take up most of her time these days. Last week, she was in San Francisco to attend the annual Sex Worker Film, Art & Music Festival. She'll be speaking at a fundraiser for the St. James Infirmary, which she helped start a decade ago to provide health care to sex workers. Even now, she's proud of the change she helped bring about in Rhode Island.

"We tried Massachusetts. California. Hawaii. Florida," she recalls. "Most of them didn't get anywhere." Twists and turns

1976: COYOTE, a national sex-workers' rights group, sues Rhode Island in federal court, alleging the state's prostitution law is overly broad and violates the constitutional right to privacy.

1980: The General Assembly amends the prostitution law, reducing solicitation from a felony to a misdemeanor and deleting a reference to prostitution as a crime. The COYOTE lawsuit is dismissed.

1981: U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Pettine, ruling on legal fees, says the change in Rhode Island law decriminalized sex for money.

1998: State Supreme Court rules in State v. DeMagistris that the law against soliciting for prostitution was "primarily to bar prostitutes from hawking their wares in public."

2003: Prostitution charges against four women arrested at two Providence spas are dismissed after attorney Michael J. Kiselica, citing Pettine and the Supreme Court ruling, successfully argues that Rhode Island has no law against indoor prostitution.

2005: Bill to make prostitution illegal, wherever it occurs, dies in the General Assembly; similar bills fail in subsequent years.

2009: On May 13, the House overwhelmingly passes bill to criminalize all prostitution. Bill now pending in the Senate.

http://www.projo.com/news/content/PROSTITUTION_LAW31_05-31-09_NVEHGBH_v161.3e90048.html

Prostitute Dies After Being Held In Scorching Outdoor Prison Cell

2009-06-21 00:03:34

PHOENIX - A prostitute doing time behind bars, Marcia Powell was temporarily moved one day last month to an outdoor holding pen with nothing but a chain-link-fence roof to shield her from the searing desert sun.

She lasted less than four hours.

Powell, 48, collapsed in the 108-degree heat and died at a hospital the next day, touching off a criminal investigation and bringing an abrupt end to a little-known practice in Arizona's prison system that inmate-rights activists found repellent.

Donna Leone Hamm, director of the local nonprofit Middle Ground Prison Reform, called the outdoor cages barbaric.

"There's something medieval about it," she said. "It doesn't comport with any humane or community standard that we would ordinarily think of for any animal, including a human."

Arizona's 10 state prisons have 233 outdoor cells for temporarily holding inmates awaiting transfer to punishment wards, medical units, other prisons or work assignments. All four sides and the roof of each cell are made of chain-link fence. Some have coverings that provide shade; others do not.

They have been used year-round, despite temperatures in Arizona that can climb over 100 from the spring through the fall, and top 110 in the summer.

Corrections spokesman Barrett Marson said Arizona prisons have had outdoor enclosures since at least the 1960s. Corrections Director Charles Ryan said he does not know whether other inmates have died or become seriously ill from being held in one.

After Powell's collapse at the Perryville state prison outside Phoenix on May 19, Ryan all but banned the use of outdoor detention cells, putting Arizona in line with other hot-weather Sunbelt states. He said the cages will be used only in extraordinary circumstances, such as a prison riot or a brawl.

"The situation that Marcia Powell experienced will not occur again," Ryan said.

Florida and New Mexico do not have outdoor holding cells, prison officials there said. Texas and California have outdoor cells, but they are shaded, officials said.

On the day she collapsed, Powell, who was serving a more than two-year sentence and had a history of drug addiction and mental illness, was being transferred from one section of the prison to an observation ward after seeing a psychologist, officials said.

She was put in the unshaded holding cell and forced to wait because of a disturbance in the observation ward, authorities said.

Prison policy called for inmates to be removed from outdoor cells after two hours, but that wasn't done. Also, guards were 20 yards away in a control room while she was in the cell and were supposed to check on her every 30 minutes. Authorities are investigating whether that was done and how much water Powell was given.

A deputy warden and two guards have been suspended during the investigation.

Authorities said Powell died of heat-related causes, but the autopsy results have not been released. Investigators said they were looking into whether she was taking any psychiatric medication that might have affected her ability to withstand the heat.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526132,00.html

Officer Won't Be Charged In Hotel Scuffle

2009-06-20 23:53:03

A reserve police officer from Waterloo will not be charged in connection with a weekend scuffle at a Des Moines hotel that involved a woman he planned to pay for sex, according to a police report.

Steven Swanson, 41, told officers he was at the Quality Inn and Suites, 929 Third St., to meet a woman he contacted through Craigs-list, an online classifieds Web site that has become popular with prostitutes and their customers, authorities said.

A hotel manager called police after Swanson and the woman allegedly fought in a fourth-floor hallway at about 1:45 p.m. Saturday. Swanson said he tried to wrestle away the woman's cell phone when he thought she was going to call her pimp, the police report said.

The woman's name was blacked out in the report.

When police asked Swanson for his identification, he allegedly laid his driver's license on the table, put his Waterloo police identification next to it and said: "And this is the one that will hurt."

A Waterloo police official told Des Moines officers that Swanson had been on duty until 1 a.m. Saturday.

The woman told police that she met Swanson at the Lumberyard, a strip club on the north side of Des Moines, where she works. She asked Swanson "to come to the hotel to hang out," the report said.

The woman denied that she solicited via Craigslist. She told police that Swanson was upset with her because she "just wanted to hang out."

"The female denied being a prostitute, so there was no way to prove it in a court of law," Des Moines Police Sgt. Lori Lavorato said.

Swanson suffered an abrasion and a torn shirt in the scuffle. No charges were filed. Both were photographed and released.

Waterloo police Capt. John Beckman said that he was not aware of the alleged incident and that department officials would be "looking into it."

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090616/NEWS/906160365/-1/archive?GID=q3apb4Bms1/EEdJKOBdZPcoyYuzj47UO4740LGOC4Z0%3D"

Former Prosecutor Running Prostitution Ring

2009-06-20 23:51:02

MINNEAPOLIS - Police say a former state prosecutor with polio was running a high class prostitution ring.

Investigators say a home in southeast Minneapolis was the alleged headquarters for a high class prostitution ring, called the Minnesota Nice Guys.

Police say the pimp is John St. Marie, a former state prosecutor, who is quadriplegic from polio.

Jim Dahlquist is St. Marie's attorney, and an old law school classmate.

Police say he hooks up a small group of 30 wealthy Minnesota men with $500 an hour prostitutes that he flies in from out of state. Police say St. Marie wasn't paid in cash; the women paid him with sex. And police say he ran the entire operation from the computer in his home.

Last month, the police sting went down at the Hotel Minneapolis. Eight clients showed up for a woman they knew as Natalia, who is now working for the cops.

The men all identified St. Marie as the pimp. They identified him as the man who screened them and the prostitutes.

The investigation began last august, at the University Radisson, where Minneapolis police busted a prominent Minnesota businessman with a prostitute.

For 28-years, St. Marie was an assistant Hennepin County attorney specializing in civil commitments of the mentally ill or chemical addicted.

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/crime/Police_Former_Prosecutor_Running_Prostitution_Ring_june_08_2009

Mpls Police Bust Website-Based Prostitution Ring

2009-06-20 23:48:17

MINNEAPOLIS - Minneapolis police have arrested the person they believe to be running a website-based prostitution ring.

The Minneapolis Police Department Violent Offenders Task Force has even posted a message to the men who use the site: turn yourself in, before we come looking for you.

Detectives say a woman who goes by the name Tiger St. Clair, is one of the most prominent madams in the Twin Cities.

Minneapolis police arrested 46-year old Nora Anderson out of a Woodbury town home.

Investigators say Anderson ran a web site called, myfastpass.com, which is a mutual referral service for prostitutes and Johns.

For $24 a month, the Johns give their employers name for a background check to verify they're not undercover cops. The prostitutes even provide references.

But on Monday night, Minneapolis police shut the site down, posting a message, saying police have the data base of more than 200 customers and encouraging the Johns to come forward and talk to police, before police come looking for them.

Captain Amelia Huffman oversees the Minneapolis Police Department Violent Offenders Task Force.

"For anyone out there in the business of utilizing these services, you really don't know who's on the other end, and it may very well be one of my undercover investigators," said Huffman.

One of the Johns in this sting was a mortgage banker from Minnetonka. He has a wife and three kids. Instead of cooperating with police, he actually tipped off St. Claire, and for that he could be looking at obstruction of justice charges.

The St. Clair case comes just days after Minneapolis police busted a quadriplegic, former state prosecutor, John St. Marie, for allegedly operating an exclusive escort service called the Minnesota Nice Guys.

Police say both operations relied on immigrant women, many forced into prostitution, flown in to turn up 20 tricks a weekend and only seeing a fraction of the money they make.

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/news/crime/Mpls_Police_Bust_Website_Based_Prostitution_Ring_june_09_2009

Who's That Girl?

2009-06-20 22:55:30

Well it seems that there has been a lot going on within the past couple of days! I am sure that most of you have seen the news or read the paper and are aware of the 13 arrests that were made here in Des Moines! I am totally outraged by this situation and the devastation that it has caused both personally and professionally for these 13 gentlemen in question! But let us please remember that these are ALLEGATIONS and that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around!

I find it appalling that they will plaster these gentleman's faces, names, and other personal information throughout various media sources, but they will not inform the public of WHO the women in question was! This is just because she has cooperated with their investigation. As reported in the news, this women was approached by LE due to complaints from neighbors in her apartment complex! She was NOT involved in any kind of undercover operation previously which resulted in an arrest, basically, they came to her door with allegations and assumptions of illegal activities. No warrant, no anything! She willing decided to help with this investigation over a month long period of time. So my question is did she pick and choose who she would set up???? It is alright to let us know who the gentlemen are, we have all seen that! If she chose to break the law, shouldn't she be held accountable for her actions??? I feel that she should and I think many will and do agree with me!

Just today I received an email from an anonymous person saying that she has recently contacted him stating that she has moved! So it is pretty evident that she is STILL actively breaking the law! But I guess when you get a free pass and no consequences for your actions, WHY NOT????!!!! This whole thing is totally absurd! I guess that is what happens when you are totally uneducated to the LAW! If you are going to break the law, shouldn't you at least educate yourself a little??? But this is what happens when you take the easier, softer way out of things. Ok, I can ramble on about this for days, with the "what ifs" and the "whys", but the reality is what it is and it is done and over with. I know that this will not repair the damage that has been done for the gentlemen that are involved or nor will it repair the damage to their personal/professional lives! But once again, I do not want myself lumped into some category as this women! I do not want people to think that I am like her or that anything that I do is illegal in this state! So for those of you who are still sitting there wonder who this women is and is she a potential threat???!!!! I can not answer these questions for anyone, not even myself, but what I can do is inform others of who she is! This is not illegal, for god's sake it is all public record! Anyone can go down to the courthouse and get it, but like anyone is really going to do that!! The women worked under the name of Channel Stevens. Her email address that was listed on her escorts.com profile was: awomenstouchdsm@yahoo.com! She has removed her profile from the site now! Her mission must be complete now!!!! I really hope that this helps some people and puts some minds to rest!

Now on to other things everyone.......My touring/traveling schedule!! I am removing three cities that I visit. This is due to many factors and I will briefly touch on them. When I tour, I do not accept visits from people who contact me when I am in town. Reasons for this are that it is really hard to answer my phone or respond to emails from those who wait to the last minute. It also takes time away from those who have made arrangement prior to my arrival! It is even harder to be able to do a through verification in a timely manner to even be able to visit with same-day inquiries! Usually those who have visited with me previously are able to get same-day-scheduling when I am touring/traveling! Also, I allow myself enough time so that neither I nor anyone else feels rushed! When I schedule dates and cities, I have to make arrangements with my classes and professors! I have to make sure that they know in advance so that I do not miss important materials and lessons! So after making my personal arrangements, going through the verification process from inquiries, emails back and forth, phone calls, etc....... All to have numerous people cancel, nc/ns, complaints that my location is on the other side of town and is too far from their work, blah, blah, blah.......I have decided to make some changes! Trust me this not only effects me, it effects those who do keep their scheduled time when I am touring/traveling! I feel stupid when I have to contact 2 people to let them know, the day I am suppose to be there, that I am not able to visit because it is not economical to travel 2 or more hours for only two visits! With the cities that I am going to remove, I have had these types of situations happen the last 2-3 times I have scheduled a visit! I do understand that people have things that come up, schedules change, work calls, whatever it maybe, so I really hope that you can take my reasons for this into consideration also! I am not saying that I will not add these cities again in the future, but for now, I will be taking them off of my rotation. So I will be removing Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Sioux City, Iowa! Hopefully things will change and I will be able to add them again. I can say that you do have really great ladies that do visit these areas pretty regularly and for those of you who have met with me previously, if you even need a reference, I would be happy to provide that for you at anytime! And to those of you who have kept your scheduling arrangement with me and I have had to cancel, please accept my apologizes and hopefully we will get the chance to visit in the future again!

So, if you are still reading this, "Thanks" for sticking with this entry! I know I have given a lot of information and opinions here, but I like to keep everyone INFORMED and SAFE! XOXOXO

Verification!

2009-06-20 23:03:35

Here we are at the subject of "Verification"! Oh, how I hate this subject, but if it wasn't necessary, I wouldn't be writing about it! Whether you call me, email me, or fill out a contact form on my website about scheduling an appointment, I am going to ask for references! A reference is "A lady you have visited with previously who can vouch for your legitimacy." I also accept registered members who are signed up with verification sites like Date-Check, Roomservice 2000, or Preferred 411! I do recommend looking into becoming a member with any of these of sites! You can get a FREE 3 MONTH MEMBERSHIP WITH DATE-CHECK if you have visited with me previously! Some people are really leery about giving out their infomation to these types of verification sites! I can say that all three of these sites are very conscience and discreet about your personal information and I have NEVER heard of any gentlemen having a problem with these sites when it comes leaking personal information or anything like that! Of course it is your choice, but it is much easier to schedule an encounter with me or any other lady of your choice!