This is in the county next me. I edited the article because of length, but you get the gist of it. In the local paper, it said that the detectives involved "Volunteered." Must've been a tough sell...
Spotsylvania Deputies Receive Sex Services in Prostitution Cases
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 13, 2006; B01
They enter the massage parlors as undercover detectives. They leave as satisfied customers.
In Spotsylvania County, as part of a campaign by the sheriff's office to root out prostitution in the massage parlor business, detectives have been receiving sexual services from "masseuses." During several visits to Moon Spa on Plank Road last month, detectives allowed women to perform sexual acts on them on four occasions and once left a $350 tip, according to court papers.
"If I thought we could get the conviction without that, we wouldn't allow it," Smith said. "If you want to make them, this has to be done."
But numerous police and legal experts said they were not aware of any law enforcement agency in the Washington region, or the country, that allows sexual contact in prostitution investigations. Police should not break the law to enforce it, they said.
Smith said most "professionals" know better than to name an explicit act and a price. And with the Asian-run parlors that have periodically sprung up in Spotsylvania, he said, "they don't speak much English. There's not a lot of conversation." Smith and Spotsylvania Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Shaia likened the situation to investigators buying drugs from a drug dealer -- a necessary violation to prove a larger crime.
Smith said, "It's not something the sheriff likes his people to do, but in these cases, it's the only way to prosecute these people." He said his department's approach was not a secret since detectives had testified to similar experiences in trials of other massage parlor operators.
Spotsylvania Deputies Receive Sex Services in Prostitution Cases
By Tom Jackman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 13, 2006; B01
They enter the massage parlors as undercover detectives. They leave as satisfied customers.
In Spotsylvania County, as part of a campaign by the sheriff's office to root out prostitution in the massage parlor business, detectives have been receiving sexual services from "masseuses." During several visits to Moon Spa on Plank Road last month, detectives allowed women to perform sexual acts on them on four occasions and once left a $350 tip, according to court papers.
"If I thought we could get the conviction without that, we wouldn't allow it," Smith said. "If you want to make them, this has to be done."
But numerous police and legal experts said they were not aware of any law enforcement agency in the Washington region, or the country, that allows sexual contact in prostitution investigations. Police should not break the law to enforce it, they said.
Smith said most "professionals" know better than to name an explicit act and a price. And with the Asian-run parlors that have periodically sprung up in Spotsylvania, he said, "they don't speak much English. There's not a lot of conversation." Smith and Spotsylvania Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Thomas Shaia likened the situation to investigators buying drugs from a drug dealer -- a necessary violation to prove a larger crime.
Smith said, "It's not something the sheriff likes his people to do, but in these cases, it's the only way to prosecute these people." He said his department's approach was not a secret since detectives had testified to similar experiences in trials of other massage parlor operators.
