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Using Craigslist For Prostitution

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Using Craigslist For Prostitution

By Michael George

MILWAUKEE - Prostitution has gone from the streets to the information superhighway. At least six people have been charged with prostitution this week after using the popular classified ad Web site "craigslist.org." The Web site shows page after page of ads offering sexual services for clients, or johns. "It's happening all the time, in Milwaukee County, Waukesha County, all the different counties," said Lt. John Edwards of the Oak Creek Police Department. People can post classified ads on Craigslist for anyone to see. TODAY'S TMJ4 found more than 100 ads for call girls in our area. They show photos, prices, even local phone numbers. Police departments were on top of the problem. They're using the site to run sting operations. "We could probably do it every day for a week straight and make a lot of arrests, if we chose to do that, and wait a couple more weeks and do it again. That's how many are out there," Edwards said. But as law enforcement was catching on, so were the clients. One Web site features messages warning potential johns in Milwaukee to stay away from Craigslist. The message says Milwaukee's Web site is "too hot" because of all the busts lately. Craigslist isn't the only Web site out there used for solicitation. "Anybody could go on and search under certain criteria, and you could come up with hundreds and hundreds of lists," Edwards said. The administrators of Craigslist have said they are not responsible for the content put on the site by users.