A week ago, an Allentown vice detective taken care of immediately an on-line advertisement featuring two young, virtually nude females.
Through the advertisement, posted underneath the name “Bella,” the detective arranged an encounter that is sexual a south Allentown motel for $300 for the half-hour. Whenever a female arrived during the March 28 sting, the detective quickly arrested her — his bust that is seventh in thirty days. A couple of days later on, he made his eighth arrest in the same online sting.
Those are simply a number of the busts that neighborhood authorities state highlight a sudden rise in prostitution-related task within the Lehigh Valley ― just about all related to a brand new internet site that includes found where controversial site Backpage.com kept down with regards to ended up being power down a 12 months ago.
The website, miss out the Games, was described by regional police and prosecutors as a far more graphic and “in-your-face” version of Backpage, which authorities say had fueled a rise in prostitution in the region since 2010.
After Backpage ended up being shut down by federal authorities final April, the Lehigh Valley witnessed a noticeable decline in prostitution arrests.
Allentown, where in fact the most of busts happen, reported a 39% decline in arrests for prostitution and commercialized vice in 2018, a downward trend seen throughout Lehigh and Northampton counties, in accordance with statistics from the state police’s uniform criminal activity system that is reporting.
But as regional authorities anticipated, the decrease didn’t final long.
“Initially as soon as the federal government shut those sites down, we actually didn’t do just about anything for the short while,” said Colonial Regional police Sgt. Continue reading “Backpage is fully gone, but an even more version that is graphic once again fueling prostitution busts within the Lehigh Valley”