Five women — including a 23-year-old from Bainbridge Island — were arrested for prostitution late last week at the GuestHouse Inn & Suites in Poulsbo.
The Bainbridge woman was the first of the group to be arrested during a multi-agency sting, police officials said.
The other women arrested for prostitution included a 23-year-old from Spanaway, a 43-year-old from Bremerton, a 22-year-old from Kent and a 22-year-old from Port Orchard.
A 29-year-old San Antonio, Texas woman, was also arrested for promoting prostitution in the second degree, a felony.
Bremerton police reported that a man from Bremerton will also be referred to the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office for the same charge.
According to court documents, the women agreed to perform various sexual activities in exchange for amounts ranging between $150 to $400 before they were arrested.
The operation focused on reducing human trafficking and prostitution, authorities said, and undercover officers or operatives responded to ads on Backpage.com, a classified ad website similar to craigslist, that featured images of scantily clad women in sexually suggestive poses. Police then called or texted the women to meet.
The women were arrested after meeting with individual officers at the Poulsbo hotel and agreeing to have sex for money. The sting operation lasted approximately four hours the night of Thursday, July 30.
The women arrested were all charged Friday, July 31 in Kitsap County District Court.
Conviction of a charge of prostitution can result in a maximum jail term of 90 days and a $1,000 fine.
“With this kind of operation, we have three goals,” said Poulsbo Police Chief Al Townsend.
“First, to break the cycle for the women involved and get them into services,” Townsend said. “Second, to send the clear message that this activity is not tolerated in this area, and third, to go after the traffickers and stop the victimization.”
The Bremerton Police Department said the women who were arrested later met with specialized staff and were offered assistance and services.
Agencies involved the operation included the Special Operations Group – a joint investigative unit of the Bremerton and Poulsbo Police Departments – as well as the FBI’s South Sound Child Exploitation Task Force, Coast Guard Investigative Services, WestNet through the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington State Patrol Missing and Exploited Children’s Task Force, the Port Orchard and Bainbridge Island police departments and the Washington State Department of Corrections.
The team has conducted previous operations in Bremerton, Port Orchard and unincorporated Kitsap County in the past and there will be more stings in the future, police said.
