The big news in Central Florida today was Polk County Sheriff Judd Grady's announcement of 34 arrests as a result of a Craigslist prostitution sting dubbed "Operation Hot Date" by the sheriff's office. Okay, admit it – that is a lot of hookers willing to travel to Polk County, right? Just for those unaware of the geography involved here, a trip to Polk is about an hour away if you live in downtown Orlando, depending on time of day. I've never booked calls out there; most likely because I don't know anyone willing to drive there, but also because it's an entirely different crowd out that way. None of these Craigslist advertisers actually lived there though, and most traveled from Orlando. If you want to see the photos, you'll have to click on The Weekly Vice, because I'm not willing to post them, and by the way – great website to bookmark anyway.
The main intention of this set-up was to attack Craigslist again. Sheriff Judd stated that "Craigslist continues to facilitate prostitution and they derive proceeds from prostitution." I will disagree with Judd – it's not the advertising venue that facilitates prostitution – it's the hookers that place the ads.
Guarantee that none state in any ad that it's an offer of sex for money – this is done on the telephone or at the arranged location. Kristin Wright and Ken Suarez, on My Fox Tampa Bay, state: "The site took aim at the sheriff saying, "It would be surprising if the Sheriff has chosen to ignore the larger and much more explicit adult service advertising venues operating throughout his jurisdiction." I know "the site" didn't speak, so I'm curious as to where Wright and Suarez received their information. It is not posted on Craigslist Blog, so Jim Buckmaster didn't say it there, but perhaps it came from an anonymous spokesperson. Regardless, there certainly are other, and much busier, adult business advertising venues in Central Florida, so this is clearly another target practice on Craigslist.
My point in posting this is two-fold. First of all, if the Polk County Sheriff's Office can get that many hookers to drive to timbuktu on Friday and Saturday nights – you know the area resorts are blocking numbers. C'mon – a brand new, and very flashy lit-up Hilton just opened this past weekend right next to the Orange County Convention Center, but wait - this is also in Smart City territory. For those not in the know - Smart City is the telco that tookover Vista United Telephone - Disney's old company. The offices are still located in that secured building on Disney property - I know because I've delivered pizza there. LOL. The telco also operates out of - guess where - Las Vegas. Of course they also operate in other cities, but the corporate offices are in Orlando and Las Vegas. More on exactly what they do later....
Next point is that Craigslist is indeed singled-out here – why didn't they dial hookers on other venues? Perhaps they will get to that next, but it does seem to be a sex-obsessed agenda – usually they are setting-up porn stings out there, sometimes child porn is involved, but other times it is adult websites or adult film production. Sheriff Judd stated that plenty of Blackberries and black books were confiscated and every listed client would be contacted; however, Judd also added that he intended to contact the wives of the listed clients, and in my opinion, he had better check with the attorneys on that last part as it doesn't even sound legal.
It is great to hear that Central Florida is crime-free and now we can all sleep better at night.
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