Police Sting Nets 15 Men in Crackdown on Prostitution

The young women loitered near a bus stop at the corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and Hatteras Street in Van Nuys, dressed in sweaters, sweat shirts and jeans and gazing wearily at the traffic cruising the boulevard.

The women resembled prostitutes--at least to the 15 men who, between 12:15 p.m. and 5 p.m. Friday, were arrested for soliciting for prostitution.

One by one, the men drove up to the women, engaged in a bit of conversation, then blanched as a Los Angeles Police Department squad car and two motorcycle officers swooped down on them, slapped on the handcuffs and escorted them to a van parked in a nearby alley.

The four women who took turns standing on the street corner were Los Angeles police officers.

Busy Prostitution Area

The police stakeout and undercover operation was staged to help diminish the prostitution problem along Sepulveda Boulevard, a thoroughfare that accounted for about 95% of the 550 prostitution arrests last year in the Van Nuys area, Sgt. Joe C. Brazas said.

“Except for this street, we don’t really have a problem,” he said.

Capt. Arthur Sjoquist said the boulevard, which is lined with fast-food restaurants and motels advertising rates as low as $10, attracts more prostitutes than any other location in the San Fernando Valley.

Those arrested in Friday’s operation were apparently oblivious to the newspaper, radio and television reporters invited to the event who mingled in a parking lot behind some large trucks. Police frequently seek to publicize such campaigns to discourage men from patronizing prostitutes.

Those arrested also didn’t suspect the undercover officer working on the engine of a car parked just a few feet from the prostitute decoys.

“The john only has one eye when he gets out there,” Brazas said.

The manager of a nearby motel, who declined to give his name, said he appreciated the law enforcement effort.

“We call the vice people to complain half a dozen times a week, at least,” he said. “My wife and daughter can’t sit in the front yard without guys hitting on them. There’s not a woman in this neighborhood who can walk to that bus station without getting stopped by some guy looking for a hooker.”

The men arrested Friday were between 19 and 69 years old, and several have had previous arrests for soliciting, Brazas said. The first arrest, a misdemeanor, requires a cash bail of $2,500. The bail jumps about $1,000 for the next two arrests.

“The whole thing makes me embarrassed for my fellow man,” said Jerry Swienty, a civilian attached to the Police Department. “One guy was picked up three times over a two-month period on the same corner of Ventura Boulevard. The same corner!

“When they were bringing him in he kept shouting, ‘I’ll never do this again on Ventura Boulevard! Never again!’ ”

The prices offered for sex on Friday ranged from $10 to $1,000, and the man who offered the $1,000 “had the money to do it,” Brazas said.

He said the number arrested appeared low, explaining: “We usually average from 25 to 35 on a similar day.”

Police arrested a total of 11 men on solicitation charges during the two previous days there, so that may have discouraged business, he said.

The futility of ending the prostitution problem wasn’t lost on one of the motorcycle officers who helped park the suspects’ cars as they were carted off to jail.

“They’ll be back in no time,” he said.