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Norfolk Police and NewsChannel 3 go prowling for prostitutes

Posted at 2:35 PM, Feb 15, 2011
and last updated 2012-05-15 14:37:02-04

By Jummy Olabanji

Prowling for prostitutes is something Norfolk Police say happens every day. So much so that the police department established a special vice squad that focuses on the prostitution problem, conducting undercover stings every week.

On this particular night where NewsChannel 3 was given exclusive access to the undercover operations, detectives arrested and charged seven men in less than seven hours.

You'd be surprised at who got busted.

Sgt. T. Gibbs from the Norfolk Police Department says, "The majority of them are married men."

There were married men with children, fancy cars, and even a few carrying expensive high-grade illegal drugs.

In fact, two of them we saw get busted told police they were in the military. One of them is a lieutenant based on a local ship. He had no problem coming into the hotel room dressed in his Navy camos.

To find out how the naval officer and several other men ended up handcuffed in a local hotel, you'd have to visit a website called "Backpage.com."

It may be little-known to come, but to those looking for a quick hookup, the page is no secret.

Just a quick look underneath the "Escort" page on the Norfolk site, and you'll see several explicit ads.

Norfolk Police posted three fake ads. Little did anyone know, the girls they were hoping to sleep with were actually undercover female Norfolk detectives.

All seven men are facing Class 1 misdemeanor charges of soliciting prostitution and using a vehicle to solicit prostitution.

"We want it to stop," Sgt. Gibbs says, "Or they need to take it elsewhere, because the Norfolk Police Department and the citizens of Norfolk, we've come together and we're saying no to that."

Police hope anyone scouring the web will think twice about logging online and looking for sex.