In College Park, Maryland more than 30 people were arrested during a prostitution sting. Most of the arrest took place inside hotels in and around the city. Police teamed up with narcotics, FBI, and a government human trafficking organization to conduct the all night few day sting.
“Prostitution is a gateway crime. It can lead to drugs, robberies and shootings,” said Capt. Leigh Mints of the county police. “We want to let everyone know this kind of activity is not something we want in this county and we’re doing all we can to prevent it.”
Here is the break down of the arrests:
Wednesday Night
13 Males
0 Females
13 Total
Thursday Night
11 Males
6 Females
17 Total
Some names of the arrested were released:
Oscar Benitez, 42, of West Lanham
Joseph Cadet, 46, of Beltsville
Mahndel Green, 39, of Bowie
Niegel Kham, 27, of Beltsville
Keith Lambkin, 34, of College Park
Visuas Patel, 42, of Laurel
Anig Sawat, 49, of Berwyn
Clifton Stone, 52, of Bladensburg
Gloria Reyes, 42, of Hyattsville
The College Park police is evidently trying to clean up the area. They are attempting to get local hotels to notify police if they suspect prostitution or other crimes in the area. Prostitution leads to other crimes especially drugs and theft. It is looked at as the next step after drugs and on the way to robbery. Mints wants to clean this up and it looks like f a 2 day sting across multiple departments is needed the so be it.