RI Men Busted for Seeking Sex in Seekonk: Police

SEEKONK, MA—Several Rhode Island men were snared in a sex sting in Seekonk on Wednesday.

The Seekonk Police Department said that eleven men were arrested after they showed up to a location where police were waiting. The men, police said, had responded to ads soliciting sex for money posted to social media sites unaware that the ads were posted by detectives.

Seekonk Police Chief Craig A. Mace said in a news release that the law enforcement team included Seekonk officers and detectives, officers from surrounding local police departments in Massachusetts and federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security.

The men, ranging in age from 29 to 56, are all facing charges of engaging in sexual conduct for a fee and are free on bail after booking at the Seekonk Police Department on Wednesday. They are all due to be arraigned at Taunton District Court on Thursday.

Charged were:

• Ernesto Amaral, 49, of 21 Ashburton Road, East Providence.
• Walter Lopes, 54, of 147 Bay View Ave., Bristol.
• Thomas Fawthrop, 53, of 28 Spruce St., Johnston.
• Arthur Amaral, 43, of 2153 Morris St., Cumberland.
• Jack Walters, 56, of Harrisville.
• Hector Alvarez-Lugo, 34, of 3664 Madagascar Ave., North Port, FL.
• Christopher Wyman, 48, of 445 Staples St., Taunton MA.
• Gustavo Rodrigues, 29, of 125 Polk St., Newark, NJ.
• Steven Pimentel, 38, of 270 North Main St., Mansfield MA.

Also charged was Jawara Mahadeo, 32, of 48 Berkley St., Providence, who faces an additional charge of possession with intent to deliver marijuana.

The sting comes not long after Cranston police led a similar sting using the Backpage.com website, which is frequently used by pimps and prostitutes to solicit Johns for sexual services. Police arrested 17 people, including a 21-year-old Providence woman who was trafficking a 16-year-old girl. The rest were all men, mostly middle aged, who thought they were about to pay for sex.

Sex traffickers primarily use social media sites, Backpage.com and other similar sites to conduct their business.

Police are especially concerned about the trafficking of minors and vulnerable people by predators who often brutally rape and abuse their victims.

Law enforcement operations targeting Johns have come under fire from civil rights advocates. The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union decried the Cranston Police Department's sting last week, saying in a statement that the department was effectively humiliating more than a dozen consenting adults by conflating prostitution with trafficking.

It "does nothing to help the trafficking victims who remain ensnared while consenting adults are pursued and arrested," said ACLU of Rhode Island Policy Associate Hillary Davis. "By humiliating and charging johns for seeking consensual sex and by giving prostitutes arrest records in the name of 'helping' them, these operations misleadingly purport to crack down on human trafficking, when their major effect is just to make the lives of prostitutes more difficult and dangerous, driving sex work even deeper into the shadows."

In response, Cranston Police Chief Col. Michael J. Winquist said that the possibility of saving a 16-year-old girl from sex slavery is worth the other arrests for sexual conduct for a fee.

"It is rare for victims of human trafficking to seek assistance on their own as their ability to recognize a need for help is diminished from drug use and conditioning that their lives are worthless," Winquist said. "We will not shield the identities of individuals who come into the City of Cranston looking to pay for sex and will continue to be transparent by making the names of those arrested available to the public through our Department website and media releases.”

It is the belief of many in law enforcement that both the supply and demand side of the equation should addressed by police investigations. Social media makes it easy for Johns to find paid-for sex online, creating a lucrative market for traffickers to exploit. Police believe high-profile stings like these will dissuade some Johns from scouring the Internet for sex knowing that a cop might be behind the escort ad.

There is an ongoing debate involving members of law enforcement, civil rights groups and the general public over the enforcement of prostitution laws. Some argue that legalizing prostitution would ensure safety for sex workers and lift some of the stigmas that prevent people from seeking help from drugs or bad situations.

"We commend the organizations in the state actively working to provide social and other support services to sex workers who may have addiction or need other assistance. But we emphatically reject the notion that the only way these individuals can be helped is if they are first put into handcuffs," Davis said.

Cranston police carried out the sting over two days in an undisclosed location in Cranston.

Cranston participates in the Human Trafficking Task Force of Rhode Island, which joined the operation in Seekonk along with members of the Southeaster Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council Detectives Anti-Crime Unit.