Bellevue police conduct undercover prostitution sting, 12 arrested
Nov 14, 2019, 5:14 AM | Updated: 9:13 am
(AP)
(AP)
An undercover sting operation in Bellevue led to the arrest of 12 men who police say were soliciting sex online. In just two days, 66 men responded to ads posted by detectives on popular prostitution websites.
As each of the 12 suspects arrived at a hotel — including one who came in a Ferrari — law enforcement was waiting for them, according to the Bellevue Beat Blog.
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Captain Dave Sanabria hopes that the operation will send a message to those heading to Bellevue.
“We want to give people pause that are looking to engage in prostitution, either providing prostitution services in the city of Bellevue or trying to patronize,” he said. “We wanted to send a very clear message that we don’t want men to come to the city of Bellevue to patronize prostitutes.”
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He says more stings are planned in the near future. Of the 12 who were arrested, only one man was from Bellevue. The others drove in from surrounding cities, and one man was on a business trip from Georgia.
“Just know that there’s a very good chance that the person you’re communicating with at the other side of that text, at the other side of that call, could likely be a police detective who’s waiting to take you into custody for patronizing a prostitute,” he added.
