Prostitution Sting Nets 82 Arrests

Responding to months of angry complaints from citizens and merchants, police made 82 arrests in an anti-prostitution sweep of Beach Boulevard over the weekend.

The two-day sting operation netted 12 women, who were arrested on suspicion of soliciting undercover officers for acts of prostitution and 65 men who were arrested on suspicion of soliciting undercover female officers posing as prostitutes, according to Lt. Jim Flammini of the Anaheim Police Department.

Arrests were also made in connection with a weapons violation, indecent exposure and possession of narcotics, police said.

The youngest female suspect was 14 years old. She was released into the custody of a relative, police said.

Police acted in response to months of complaints by the Beach Blvd. Concerned Citizens Group, an organization of merchants and residents who monitor crime in the area. Police allowed group members to accompany them on the sweep “so they’d have a better understanding of what the operation entails, the amount of effort that goes into it,” said Anaheim Police Lt. Jim Flammini. “It was a first-hand look-see. It was also meant to help strengthen relations between police and the community group.”