Watch yourself out there!
53 Arrested In Eight Days
Temptation Of Sex Keeps SCPD Busy
By Robert Leuner October 02, 2002
The world's oldest profession may still be a tantalizing alternative for some, but putting the kabosh on illicit sexual entrepreneurs has kept the Suffolk County Police Department on maximum overload in recent weeks. A total of 53 individuals were arrested in the eight days between September 17-24 for prostitution-related crimes.
Four separate "John Stings" netted 43 arrests while raids on two massage parlors resulted in another 10 arrests. Bay Shore's "Sunnybrook" area saw the greatest amount of arrests, 18, during a September 19 sting. Another September 19 "John Sting" was conducted in Wyandanch netting nine arrests.
Stings in Wyandanch on September 17 resulted in the arrest of nine individuals while another nine Long Islanders were apprehended during a September 20 undercover operation in North Amityville.
Meanwhile, a three-week investigation by the Suffolk County Police culminated in the September 19 raid on The Piano Gallery in Huntington Station. In fact the advertised piano store was a front for a massage parlor. Four Asian females were arrested and charged with assorted prostitution counts. All four had Queens addresses.
On September 24 Suffolk County's Sixth Precinct raided the Jasmine Massage Parlor in Centereach arresting five Asian women (all from Flushing, Queens), and one Selden man. Town of Brookhaven fire marshals and building inspectors also issued a number of citations for town code violations.
Earlier in the month, 16 area residents were arrested during a three-day sting between September 3-5 in the North Babylon and Wyandanch area. Twelve men were arrested for patronizing a prostitute and four Wyandanch women were arraigned on prostitution counts.
©Suffolk Life Newspapers 2002