Scott Eberle said has been a hot spot for prostitution and human trafficking-related crimes. All five men were from San Rafael. The undercover prostitution sting was one of three different operations conducted Friday by officers and deputies from the San Rafael Police Department, Central Marin Police Authority and the Marin County Sheriff's Office, teaming up to target prostitution-related crimes in San Rafael.
According to police, in another operation, authorities posted three different decoy advertisements in the "Women Seeking Men" section of the adult dating section of an escort website.
The text, Eberle said, also contained a link to more information about human trafficking. A total of unique buyers contacted the advertisements throughout the hour period, Eberle said. Of those buyers, contacted multiple advertisements, 59 texted multiple ads, and 91 called multiple ads. Focusing on locating victims of human trafficking, the third operation entailed officers responding to advertisements already posted on escort websites and setting up dates to meet the women.
As a result of the operation, police contacted two women between 18 and 24 years old from the Stockton Area, one from Contra Costa and one from Vacaville. The women, Eberle said, denied being involved with human trafficking and declined services offered by police.
Photo: One of the "johns" arrested after soliciting the undercover officer.
