After 28 caught in 2-day prostitution sting, NC sheriff wants harsher penalties
A North Carolina sheriff is “fed up” with high levels of prostitution and human trafficking made evident after a two-day sting netted 28 individuals, he said during a press conference Monday.
Authorities arrested them on various prostitution-related charges during a sex sting dubbed “Operation End of Summer” — one of several this year that have yielded relatively high arrest numbers, according to Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson.
“I would love to see the laws on prostitution, especially soliciting prostitution, become a felony in this state and in this nation,” Johnson said. “If we can curb the demand, we can certainly curb the supply.”
The sting — in which individuals from the Triad to the Triangle were charged — took place between Sept. 18 and 20, according to a press release.
Sheriff’s deputies were assisted in the joint operation by officers from the Burlington Police Department, Mebane Police Department, Winston-Salem Police Department, the State Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security.
Johnson would not disclose how the operation was conducted, the Times News reported, saying the Sheriff’s Office plans to use those tactics in the future.
But he said most of the “johns,” or men soliciting prostitution, were picked up Sept. 18.
North Carolina is eighth in the nation for human trafficking, Johnson said.
“Every bit of this (operation) has a lot to do with the human trafficking industry in our state and in our nation,” he said.
Aside from the ports and interstate highways in North Carolina that are conducive to such trafficking, the sheriff said prostitutes are often victims of violence and have high mortality rates.
Prostitution is also the third most lucrative profitable crime in the country behind drugs and firearms trafficking, Johnson said.
“Sex trafficking is straight up pimping — 99 percent of all prostitutes have a pimp,” he said.
The sex sting comes on the heels of Alamance County’s “Summer Special” in August, during which authorities nabbed 14 individuals on similar prostitution charges — including a University of North Carolina professor and a part-time medical examiner.
Johnson said his office will continue with similar operations moving forward.
“This was just a drop in the bucket of what could be caught,” he said.
