Quote:
Originally Posted by cabot
More likely, but also seems low-probability - when was the last time the cops in Pittsburgh used internet ads to bust hobbyists?
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In Pittsburgh? I'm only aware of it happening once, since the 1990's. And it wasn't an Internet ad (it was a print ad in the City Paper) - and it wasn't even LE's own ad... They busted an incall service that was operating in the Friendship area (back when people actually rented apartments for the express purpose of operating multi-girl incall services). They busted the service because the owner was involved in some rather reprehensible things that can't be mentioned on this site (which didn't involve the usual "bad habits" these girls tend to get up to...). On the day of the bust, they sat in the apartment the whole day, answering the phones and booking "appointments", and arresting everyone who showed up. I'm aware of this because there was a girl who worked at that service who I really liked, and I was hoping to see her the day this happened. I called, and the phone was answered by a voice I wasn't familiar with, I asked if my favorite girl was available, and was told something like, "She's not here right now, but she might be later". I called a few more times through the course of the day, and got the same answer. Until the last time I called, I asked if the girl in question was available yet, and was told, "She's not here. You want to know where she is? She's in jail. You know how I know that? Because I put her there. This is an illegal prostitution business, and if you come here, you'll be arrested. Do you understand?" I said, yes, I understand, thanks for your time - then I hung up and never called that number again... The bust was on the TV news later that evening... But this is the only time I'm aware of the Pittsburgh PD using ads to run a sting on clients. I know it does happen in some of the suburban communities (or at least, it has, in the past), and I'm aware of a few cases where the feds have supposedly done this (using ads with face pictures and everything), but not the Pittsburgh PD.
Though around the same time, there was also an incident where there was an ad that was run (for quite a long time, a couple of months), where if you called it, you'd end up talking to a female Pittsburgh police officer. Who was legitimately working as an independent escort in her off hours. Yeah .. she got caught. She was dumb enough to take "hobby-related" calls during work hours, and some of her LE colleagues overheard some of the calls, where she was giving the callers her physical description, bra size, etc.... So they did a reverse sting on her. She ended up losing her job. "Think of it as evolution in action..."
Running into providers in public
