NEW YORK (AP) — Recent crackdowns targeting the sex-for-hire industry have reduced the number of commercial ads on the internet and helped fight online trafficking. But activists and police say the efforts may have had unintended consequences — landing women and girls back on the streets, where dangers also lurk. The impact was almost immediate […]
prostitution
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Lewiston cracking down on sex trafficking not prostitutes
LEWISTON — When police arrested seven women for engaging in prostitution one night last week, they took them to the police station, not the county jail. Officers asked each woman why she was on the street, whether someone had been compelling her to get cash for sex, then sent them to meet with an advocate […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Lewiston police continue crackdown on prostitution; seven arrested
LEWISTON — Police on Wednesday charged seven more people in what investigators say is a crackdown on human and sex trafficking. Police said they arrested seven people on charges of engaging in prostitution as a result of ongoing investigations. In contrast to similar arrests made in recent weeks, police on Wednesday did not release the […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Nearly yearlong investigation of Saco shooting death ends with finding of self-defense
SACO — Maine State Police will not charge the Saco resident who shot a New Hampshire man to death last September, saying the shooting was self-defense. For months, friends and relatives puzzled over why Michael Burns, a 54-year-old computer network repairman, went to a duplex at 26 Nye St. after 1 a.m. on Sept. 30, […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Lewiston prostitution sting nets two more
LEWISTON — Police charged two more men with engaging a prostitute Thursday as part of an undercover police sting operation in downtown. Four were charged earlier in the day. All six are accused of soliciting an ndercover officer along Ash Street. The sting occurred across from the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. According to police, […]
Posted inBusiness
Backpage.com officials charged with facilitating prostitution and money laundering
Seven top officials of the website Backpage.com, long accused of facilitating child sex trafficking, have been arrested after a grand jury in Phoenix, Arizona, issued a 93-count indictment alleging conspiracy and money laundering, and the government on Friday seized all of Backpage’s websites around the world. The indictment was unsealed Monday after all defendants made […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Lewiston police arrest three on prostitution charges in sting
LEWISTON — Three city women were arrested on charges of engaging in prostitution, police said Thursday. Karrah K. Knight, 31, Brandi L. Hesketh, 35, and Nicole A. Ackerman, 35, were offered a variety of social services “in hopes (of) assisting them to make positive changes in their lives,” according to a statement issued by police. […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Sabattus man arrested in Damariscotta prostitution sting
DAMARISCOTTA — A Sabattus man was one of eight people charged in a prostitution sting earlier this week in Lincoln County. James Carville, 32, was charged with engaging a prostitute, accused of responding to an ad on Craigslist for what police described as a sex-for-money exchange. Carville, in an interview with WGME, has denied the […]
Posted inNation / World
Condom-clogged pipe leads police to Austin prostitution ring
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Police say they cracked an Austin prostitution ring they were led to by a drainage pipe clogged with condoms. A police affidavit filed Tuesday said investigators learned that a massage parlor was operating in a shopping strip in northwestern Austin after the realty company that had just taken control of the […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
Street Talk: Hookers, johns and Judgment Day
The man was the very definition of humility. He came into the newsroom with his hat in hand, an older fellow whose eyes were red, either from crying or trying not to. He was shaking. He was pale. He was terrified. “Does my name have to go in the paper?” he asked. “Can’t you leave […]