BOULDER, Colo. (AP) – People caught hiring prostitutes in Colorado could be offered a chance to undergo a class on the impact of the sex trade.

Proposed legislation being considered by Colorado’s district attorneys would give first-time solicitation suspects a chance to learn about the human cost of prostitution as a way to help prevent repeat offenses.

Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett says a group meeting Monday will discuss the proposal, including the effectiveness of such a class.

Classes would be modeled on a program offered in San Francisco and would be paid for through fees collected from offenders.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DENVER (AP) - A proposed prostitution crackdown in Colorado focuses on customers.

The state Senate started work Monday on a bill that would promote a statewide network of so-called “john schools” — “scared straight” type programs for men who solicit sex from adult prostitutes.

First-time offenders could avoid jail by entering a diversion program in which they’d learn about human trafficking. Other topics: How most prostitutes start as young as age 13 and have very short life spans. Former prostitutes would share their stories.

Advocates say john schools reduce recidivism because prostitutes’ overwhelmingly male clients have deep misconceptions about how sexy they think prostitution is. Clients also often believe prostitutes are imported from other countries.

“Ninety-nine percent come from Denver. They do not come from Mexico or Southeast Asia. They’re our girls, our Denver middle school girls,” said Boulder attorney Beth Klein, a prominent advocate for john schools.

Last year, Klein pushed for a human trafficking law that added the sex trade to Colorado’s Organized Crime Act.

“What we really want to have people do is go to these schools and be so transformed by the seriousness of this that they don’t do it again,” Klein said.

Klein and Senate President Brandon Shaffer, the bill’s sponsor, want to see Colorado increase penalties for buying sex. Shaffer says the fine should be $10,000, with the money going to municipalities that want to set up john schools and treatment for sex workers.

Colorado currently classifies soliciting sex a petty offense, below a misdemeanor, with fines as low as $75 — less than littering in some cases. People convicted of solicitation aren’t required to register as sex offenders.

Shaffer’s bill doesn’t require john schools but outlines a framework for a possible state network of john schools for jurisdictions that want them. Denver created a version of a john school in the late 1990s but closed it because of low numbers of johns and lack of funding, Klein said.

Large cities in other states have john schools credited with decreasing recidivism — including Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Texas lawmakers are considering a statewide john school proposal similar to Shaffer’s.

Shaffer pointed out that johns who solicit underage prostitutes would not be eligible because child prostitution is a much more serious crime under existing law. He said a major goal of his bill is to increase fines so that cash-strapped municipal police forces have an incentive to go after johns and send them to treatment.

“This is a good tool, but it’s not going to eliminate the problem,” Shaffer said of john schools.

The bill has the support of Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett, who said higher fines and a statewide john school effort could bring more aggressive enforcement of prostitution laws.

‘What we’re really trying to do is cut down on the enormous public harm that comes from human trafficking,” Garnett said.

- By Kristen Wyatt, AP Writer

Link: Senate Bill 85

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

DENVER (AP) - A bill tacking on much bigger penalties for soliciting a prostitute has won initial backing in the Colorado Senate.

Lawmakers supported the change Friday with no debate.

The measure adds a minimum $5,000 fine for the crime of buying sex, up to a maximum of $10,000. The money would go to so-called “john schools” to teach men about human trafficking.

Anti-prostitution advocates say Colorado should raise fines, which are usually levied by cities and can be as low as $75. That’s less than littering in some cases.

The higher fines would be used for scared straight-type programs for johns. John schools are in place in several large cities and have been credited for reducing recidivism, though no Colorado city currently has a john school.

The bill faces a more formal Senate vote before it can move to the House.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

DENVER (AP) - A statewide network of “john schools” for men caught seeking prostitutes is closer to approval in Colorado.

The Colorado Senate on Tuesday voted 32-2 for a bill raising fines to a minimum of $5,000. Fines could reach a maximum of $10,000.

The money would be used to set up scared straight-type diversion programs educating the mostly male customers about the harsh reality of human trafficking.

Similar schools in other parts of the country have been credited for reducing recidivism. Supporters say prostitutes and traffickers won’t go away unless the demand side of prostitution is addressed. John schools are for first-time offenders who seek adult prostitutes.

Senate Bill 85 now heads to the House.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

DENVER (AP) – House lawmakers have given preliminary approval to a bill raising the fines for soliciting prostitution to create a scared-straight-type program aimed at discouraging sex solicitation in Colorado.

The House passed the proposal Tuesday on a voice vote. It would raise minimum fines for soliciting prostitutes to between $5,000 and $10,000. The money would be used for a statewide diversion program. Currently, soliciting a prostitute carries a penalty of $75.

First-time offenders would be able to plea bargain and opt to participate in a seminar about the downside of prostitution from former prostitutes.

Major cities around the country have implemented similar diversion programs and say they’ve had success.

Lawmakers must vote on the bill once more before it can clear the House.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – Colorado Springs authorities are defending assigning seven detectives to spend $700 at a strip club as part of a liquor compliance audit and prostitution sting.

The Gazette reports that PT’s Showclub surrendered its liquor license on April 28. A March 5 audit found alcohol violations but no prostitution after detectives solicited sex for money.

Colorado Springs Lt. John Godsey heads the multi-agency Metro, Vice, Narcotics and Intelligence Unit. He says the $700 came from money seized in other undercover investigations.

Godsey says $100 per police and sheriff detectives trying to blend in seems about right for a gentleman’s club. An attorney for the club says the owners voluntarily surrendered the club’s liquor license.

The club is now all nude and doesn’t serve liquor.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (CBS4) – Investigators in a Denver-area prostitution case say a mansion in Douglas County was the base for a sophisticated prostitution ring with ties to strip clubs in the city.

The alleged ringleader was a man named Germaine “Jell-O” Wallace. Police say he used proceeds from the prostitution to buy expensive cars and exotic pets.

Germaine "Jell-O" Wallace (credit: Denver Police)

Castle Rock resident Jim Dack told CBS4 on Tuesday he was “amazed” to hear that his former neighbor is now facing the prostitution charges.

“Nobody out here ever was out of line about anything,” Dack said.

Other neighbors told CBS4 they had a bit more of a hunch about what was going on.

“We were just curious, because you saw expensive cars and other toys being hauled in to the development,” Gary Smith said. “There were questions about all the expensive cars that were going in and out, out-of-state license plates and rumors.”

Police say Wallace, who no longer lives in the mansion, operated his prostitution ring through four local strip clubs. The four women he lived with allegedly secured jobs as strippers at the clubs and enticed clients to pay as much as $500 in exchange for sex acts.

Denver police received an anonymous tip about the activities and last November officers arrested an alleged prostitute at PT’s Showclub, a nude club. That woman told police about Wallace’s operation and then Wallace’s home was raided. Police say they found a semiautomatic weapon and the drug ecstacy in the home.

Wallace is out on a $150,000 bond in the case and is set to make an appearance in court on June 17. The four women he lived with — Teresa Weeks, Kara Laughead, Amber Wilson and Allison Kelly — have also been arrested.

Smith told CBS4 he and other neighbors are now looking forward to things getting back to normal in their neighborhood.

“I think the people here are relieved now that they know what was going on and that it has been exposed,” he said.

CBS4 attempted to contact Wallace through his lawyer but those calls were not returned.

Wallace already has served time in Florida for sex assault and battery.

DENVER (CBS4)- Mayor-Elect Michael Hancock has released at least five months worth of personal cell phone records in response to media requests for those records. The release follows media reports suggesting a link between Hancock and a now defunct prostitution business known as Denver Players/Denver Sugar.

Hancock has repeatedly denied patronizing the business or utilizing the services of a prostitute.

In an email to CBS4 Tuesday afternoon, Amber Miller, a press aide to Hancock, said the records would be made available Tuesday but with six conditions attached:

“We have received Michael’s personal cell phone records. We will be making them available to CBS4 today only under the terms described below. Please let us know if your news organization agrees to these terms and we will provide you with the time and further access information.

• Reporters will be able to review Michael’s complete, unedited and un-redacted cell phone records for March, April, May, September and October in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

• Any reporting/writing will only involve numbers related to Denver Players/Denver Sugar and the allegations that Michael Hancock solicited prostitutes.

• Reporters will share with us the specific phone numbers and names they are looking for just prior to sitting down and reviewing the records.

• If there is a match, reporters will point out those numbers on the spot, with the understanding that no one leaves the room/contacts that number until the records review is complete.

• The records review will occur at the offices of Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck.
There will be no photocopying, reproduction or republication of the records.”

CBS4 News Director Tim Wieland rejected the offer Tuesday afternoon.

“We do have an interest in reviewing the unedited phone records,” wrote Wieland. “However we will not conduct a review under the unusual conditions you have outlined.”

The Denver Post and KUSA-TV agreed to the conditions and reported they reviewed Hancock’s phone records Tuesday night. Both media organizations reported not finding any phone numbers linking Hancock to the prostitution business.

DENVER (CBS4)- A teenager said she ran away from a home where she was being held as a prostitute. Three people, Frank Devoe, Chester Gray and Ryann Pangle are facing charges related to child prostitution and kidnapping.

Frank Devoe (credit: Denver District Attorney)

The teen told police she was being held against her will at a home in Montbello, tattooed with the name of her pimp and beaten. She told police she was called “the white girl” and that Devoe was her alleged pimp.

A neighbor saw the girl walking down the street with blood visible on her body.

Chester Gray (credit: Denver District Attorney)

“What came through my head was somebody beat her up. She was bleeding from her face and running to the neighbor’s house,” said neighbor Alma Cardenas.

Ryann Pangle (credit: Denver District Attorney)

The girl ran to the house to get help. That’s where she found Sam Urton and asked if she could use his cell phone to call 911, but then the people from the house where she was held captive approached him.

“They told me it was okay, she was just drunk. She lived with them and it was okay, but it was obvious to me it wasn’t okay. It was obvious that she was being abused,” said Urton.

Later she told police she was offered for prostitution through an internet chat site and one for escorts. She said she was not paid as promised and that she was only 17 years old at the time.

She finally made her escape after being assaulted for not cleaning the house.

“I saw them trying to pull one girl into the house and the girl didn’t want to go back inside,” said witness James Meredith.

Eventually she was able to escape and police arrived at the home to investigate her claims.

“Oh, man. That’s crazy, forcing young girls into prostitution, that’s sad,” said neighbor Dane Gray.

Police indicated there was no question that those accused knew the girl was a minor. Her 18th birthday was recently celebrated in the home.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Three Colorado residents have been arrested on suspicion of bringing a 14-year-old girl to Utah for prostitution.

KSL-TV reports 28-year-old Roscoe Gallman of Colorado Springs, 20-year-old Abelina Roybal of Denver and 24-year-old Sasha Montiel were arrested Saturday at a Salt Lake City motel. They face aggravated exploitation of a minor, money laundering and identity fraud charges, among others. Authorities did not provide hometowns for Montiel or the teen girl.

Salt Lake County authorities say detectives were tipped off because the two women and the teen girl had posted online advertisements for escort services.

Officials say the teen girl was a runaway and has been taken into protective custody. It wasn’t immediately clear is any of the suspects had attorneys.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

DENVER (CBS4) – Police arrested more than a dozen prostitutes in an overnight sting operation, including a man with AIDS.

Police took Darren Garcia, 31, into custody Wednesday night.

Garcia has been arrested before in Denver, including two times on charges of prostitution with knowledge of AIDS.

Police conducted the prostitution bust on East Colfax between Yosemite and Tamarac.

Click on the image below to see a photo gallery of all the people arrested during the sting. (all images courtesy of Denver Police)

DENVER (AP) — A child-trafficking ring lured or coerced at least four girls under the age of 18 into prostitution in five Colorado cities and sometimes “sold” them to third parties for prostitution, state Attorney General John Suthers said Monday.

A 70-count indictment charged four people with taking the girls to hotels in Denver, Boulder, Lakewood, Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs to have sex with paying customers last year.

On one occasion, one girl was held down on a hotel bed in Boulder and “subjected … to sexual contact without her consent,” the indictment alleged. The ring advertised the girls as prostitutes on the Internet, prosecutors claimed.

The suspects face charges including trafficking in children, pimping of a child, inducing child prostitution and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. They were identified as Patrick Lloyd McGowan, 22; Chad Armand Gow, 20; Bryan Steven Burns, 20; and Roy Manuel Ibarra-Gonzales, 20.

PHOTO GALLERY: Child Prostitution Ring Suspects

If convicted of child trafficking, each could face up to 24 years in prison and up to $1 million in fines. Gow also faces a charge of unlawful sexual contact, and McGowan faces drug charges, including an accusation that he provided cocaine to two of the girls.

The indictment said Ibarra-Gonzales and Gow were arrested in early December. No arrest dates are listed for the others. All were being held in the Jefferson County jail. Bail was set at $250,000 for McGowan and $200,000 for the other three.

Jefferson County spokeswoman Jacki Kelley said the jail does not release the names of inmates’ attorneys.

The indictment said the girls are under 18 but their ages weren’t listed. Three were convinced or encouraged to become prostitutes, but the indictment did not specify details. It said the third was recruited through the Internet. They were then coerced with drugs or threats of violence to work as prostitutes, the court document said.

The girls were also required to turn over their earnings from prostitution to the four suspects.

Ten other people were indicted on charges of abetting or patronizing the operation. All but two have been arrested, said Mike Saccone, a spokesman for Suthers.

They face charges including patronizing a prostituted child, pandering, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and evidence-tampering. One also faces an unlawful sexual contact charge stemming from the incident in which the girl was allegedly held down on a bed.

“Human trafficking and child prostitution are tragic crimes, from the devastating effects they have on their victims to the mere fact that the use and sale of persons persists in our world today,” Suthers said in a release.

- By Dan Elliott, AP Writer

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DENVER (CBS4) – A war of words has developed after a child prostitution ring investigation.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers used the case to demand a website stop posting ads for sexual services.

In August nearly all the attorneys general in the United States signed a letter saying they are concerned about human trafficking and called a website owned by Village Voice Media, a hub for such activity.

It’s called Backpage.com. Its sex-related ads are reported to generate millions of dollars a year in revenue for Village Voice Media, its parent company.

“We hope that instances like this will continue to apply more public pressure to them to frankly get out of this kind of business,” Suthers said.

Village Voice Media’s attorney, Steve Suskin, shot back in a letter to Suthers.

“We respectfully disagree with the idea put forth by Attorney General John Suthers that taking down Internet pages will help to prevent these crimes,” Suskin said in the letter.

Suskin claims it turned over more than 700 pages of evidence on the case in response to a Lakewood police subpoena. That department is quite familiar with the website.

“I can tell you that we get a lot of arrests. We issues a lot of summonses from those on ads on Backpage,” Steve Davis with Lakewood police said.

Craigslist caved in to pressure and removed its erotic services ads, but Village Voice Media is not backing down, according to the letter from its lawyer.

First Amendment attorney Tom Kelley, who does not represent Backpage.com, says they have protection under the Constitution and through communication laws.

“Unless it can be shown that the criminal activity is so blatantly advertised that denial of knowledge of what is going on is just implausible, unbelievable,” Kelley said.

The outcry against Backpage.com is exhibited on a website not so politely called Village Voice Pimps, where the Colorado child sex ring case is prominently mentioned.

Suskin declined to speak on camera but noted that 100 different ads related to the alleged child sex ring also appeared on 15 other websites.

It’s just the latest case in which Backpage.com was cited as a source for ads that turned out to be for child prostitution.

RELATED: 4 Charged In Alleged Child-Prostitute Ring In Colorado

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4) – Prosecutors and lawyers for former Arapahoe County Sheriff Patrick J. Sullivan Jr. are discussing a potential plea bargain, according to a source with knowledge of the discussions.

Sullivan, 69, is due in court Monday in Arapahoe County for a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for him to stand trial on charges of distribution of a controlled substance, possession of methamphetamine, prostitution, and attempting to influence a public official. The charges stem from a law enforcement sting last November. Police say they caught Sullivan attempting to trade meth for sex with a male acquaintance.

The plea bargain negotiations were described as being in the discussion stages with numerous issues still being hammered out, like the precise charge Sullivan would plead guilty to and sentencing recommendations.

If the two sides can agree on a plea bargain , that would negate the need for an actual trial.

Mike Saccone, a spokesperson for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office, which is prosecuting the case, told CBS4 on Sunday, “The hearing is still docketed, it’s still going ahead. We don’t comment on the existence or much less the progress of any negotiations that might or might not be going on.”

Kevin McGreevy, one of Sullivan’s attorneys, said Sunday night, “We have no comment to provide on the Sullivan matter.”

Sullivan is free on $50,000 bond.

- Written by Brian Maass for CBSDenver.com

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4)- Police in Greeley arrested two women for allegedly running a prostitution business out of their home.

On April 22 police received information indicating that two women were advertising and conducting prostitution from inside their home. It was also indicated that a 2-year-old child of one of the women was living in the home.

Investigators discovered the women were advertising their services on a website.

An undercover investigator contacted the women via the website on Tuesday and arranged an appointment.

When the investigator arrived, the child was in the living room of the apartment while the investigator was escorted to the bedroom.

At this time, additional officers and investigators entered the home and arrested a 43-year-old female and a 25-year-old female, the grandmother and mother of the toddler.

The older woman was charged with prostitution and child abuse. The other woman was charged with promoting sexual immorality, keeping a place of prostitution and child abuse. They were booked into the Weld County Jail and the child placed with social services.

Police are not releasing the names of those involved to protect the identity of the child involved in the case.

DENVER (AP) — Police have arrested 35 people on prostitution-related charges and seized 23 vehicles in the last week in north and west Denver.

The Denver Police Department announced Thursday the arrests of 29 people for soliciting for prostitution or agreeing to an act of prostitution. Six suspected prostitutes were also arrested.

The “john stings” were conducted by the department’s vice unit in areas where police say they received complaints about solicitation and prostitution.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4)- A woman accused of running a prostitution business with her mother has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Amanda Becker and her mother, Sherry Whitacre, are accused of running the prostitution operation after police posed as customers and busted the women last month.

Becker, 25, appeared before a judge Wednesday. She pleaded guilty to child abuse and keeping a place of prostitution. That was in exchange for the charge of promoting sexual immorality to be dropped.

According to court documents, Becker and Whitacre, 43, promoted their services on a website. That’s when police in Greeley set up a string operation at the apartment where the women lived.

Becker will serve 12 months probation and her mother will be arraigned later this month.

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4)- A second woman from Greeley has pleaded not guilty to prostitution and child abuse charges.

Sherry Whitacre faces two misdemeanor counts in the case where prosecutors claimed she and her daughter ran a prostitution ring out of their home in Greeley.

She is scheduled to appear in court July 16.

Whitacre’s daughter, Amanda Becker, pleaded guilty last week and was sentenced to probation. She was also ordered to pay court costs and fines.

The child abuse charges were filed because Becker’s 2-year-old child lived in the home where police said the tricks were taking place.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) – Employees at a Colorado Springs massage parlor have been arrested for prostitution.

Massa Spa is located in Old Colorado City. Police say the arrests were the result of a sting operation. An undercover officer arrested employees after one offered a sex act in exchange for money.

Two people were arrested. One is charged with prostitution and the other with keeping a place of prostitution.

There have been three arrests at Massa Spa so far this year.

GREELEY, Colo. (CBS4) – A Greeley woman has admitted that she ran a prostitution business with her daughter.

Sherry Whitacre pleaded guilty to prostitution in court on Friday. The 43-year-old was immediately sentenced to 1 1/2 years of probation, a month with an ankle monitor, and 20 hours of community service.

Whitacre’s adult daughter, Amanda Becker, pleaded guilty to prostitution charges in June.