Craigslist-advertising prostitutes working Richmond area

On any given day, 15 to 20 or more women can be found on Craigslist.com advertising their sexual services to any takers in the Richmond area.

With just a few clicks of the mouse, local residents looking for female companionship last Friday could find a "Sexy Busty" girl who promised to "make your dreams come true" if you'd call to meet her somewhere on West Broad Street.

Likewise, another woman said she was available that same day in Richmond -- if you could afford her $180-an-hour fee.

"It's a different avenue that these ladies are using now, with Craigslist just becoming popular," said Henrico County police Sgt. Shawn F. Diasparra of the department's Organized Crime Unit.

"It's just another way for them to seek customers."

The explosion of erotic services advertising on Web sites -- among them Craigslist -- has come under increased scrutiny by law enforcement agencies here and across the country.

Police increasingly are cracking down on both the buyers and sellers of Internet-advertised sex.

In early March, Cook County, Ill., Sheriff Tom Dart took the fight a step further, filing a federal lawsuit that asked that Craigslist be forced to take down its "erotic services" section, calling it a public nuisance that knowingly facilitates prostitution.

At a Chicago news conference, Dart said his office has made hundreds of prostitution arrests, many of them based on ads on Craigslist. He called the national classified-ad site "the largest source of prostitution in America," according to news accounts.

Craigslist countered that it has seen a "spectacular" drop in erotic services listings since the company began implementing various verification methods in 2008. In five major cities across the nation, the drop has been 90 to 95 percent over the past 12 months, according to a post on the official Craigslist blog.

Locally, police in Henrico and Chesterfield counties frequently monitor Craigslist and other Internet sites, and have conducted spot investigations based on intelligence or complaints.

"When we see that our uniform officers are getting calls for it, that's how we react in setting up an operation," Diasparra said.

During the first week of March, Henrico police arrested eight people in a sting operation that targeted women who advertised their sexual services locally on Craigslist, as well as escort-service operations listed in the phone book.

Of the eight charged, three were women who advertised on Craigslist. One traveled here from New York, another from New Mexico, Diasparra said.

"One thing we have noticed is that there are a lot of ladies that are not from the area -- that are coming through Richmond, staying a couple of days here and then moving on to another city," he said. "A lot of the girls on Craigslist are independents -- they just put their phone number directly on Craigslist."

In the Henrico operation, investigators posed as customers and used a room at a hotel near Richmond International Airport to call various escort services and individual women listed on Craigslist. Investigators would inquire about the services being offered and then arrange a meeting with some of the women.

Once the woman arrived, the investigator would negotiate a price for a specific sexual encounter, and she would be arrested after agreeing to perform the service for money, police said.

"We started investigating the girls on Craigslist probably two years ago," Diasparra said. "And with what we're doing, I'd guess that the number of girls in the [Richmond] area on Craigslist is actually decreasing."

"It's a preventive maintenance thing," he added, "we don't want it to run rampant."

In the city, "The Richmond Police Department has not had any incidents in the city that we are aware of involving prostitution [or] solicitation via Craigslist," said department spokeswoman Karla Peters.

In Chesterfield, police conducted an Internet sting of their own in January, arresting seven men who, authorities said, took the bait in a one-day probe targeting online prostitution.

Detectives created fictitious posts on Internet sites -- including Craigslist -- that advertise female companionship and sexual services. Meetings were then arranged between undercover female detectives and men seeking sex who contacted the detectives online.

In January of last year, Chesterfield broke up an Internet prostitution service that was owned and operated by county resident William H. Snyder, who advertised his business -- called Dream Dates for You -- on Craigslist. In December, he was sentenced to six months in jail for money laundering and receiving funds from the earnings of a prostitute.

"I think it's just the times that we're living in," said Chesterfield police Capt. Lorrie Smith. "People used to go to the phone book for things, and now they go to the Internet to find whatever they want. And that's why we as police departments are using the Internet to fight the crime -- just to stay up with the times."

Contact Mark Bowes at (804) 649-6450 or mbowes@timesdispatch.com.