Nearly two dozen men were arrested in Minnesota on sex offense charges after responding to a phony prostitution ad featuring photos of an undercover cop, police said.
“This is the Red Light District in Amsterdam,” Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said at a press conference while holding a photo of Amsterdam’s Red Light District. “We don’t have one of these in Bloomington. We got the orange jumpsuit district.”
The Bloomington Police Department busted 23 people as part of a human trafficking sting operation last Wednesday and Thursday, and one additional man is still under investigation. Bloomington is located about 10 miles outside of Minneapolis.
Hodges cited lyrics from disgraced R&B singer and convicted sex offender R. Kelly in his warning against men seeking prostitutes.
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Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges holds up an orange jumpsuit after prostitution sting. (City of Bloomington/YouTube)
“I’m going to start off with a quote from a R&B singer. He told everybody that he was a ‘Pied Piper.’ Either no one paid attention or no one believed him, until they did,” Hodges said.
“The same R&B artist said ‘my mind is telling me no, but my body, my body is telling me yes,'” quoting the singer’s 1994 hit “Bump n’ Grind.” “These guys here, just like the R&B singer R. Kelly, should’ve followed his own advice.”
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R. Kelly was recently sentenced to 20 years for crimes related to child pornography and the enticement of minors for sex, as well as 30 years on racketeering charges.
Singer R. Kelly turns to leave after appearing at a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Sept. 17, 2019, in Chicago. (Antonio Perez – Pool via Getty Images)
Hodges said at the press conference that the department posted photos of a female undercover cop on websites known for prostitution and human trafficking purposes and received 211 interactions with the ads.
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Hodges highlighted that the police department works with hotels in the city to “eradicate human trafficking,” arguing that the number of highways and the 10,000 hotel rooms in Bloomington make the city a potential hotspot for trafficking.
The 23 men arrested in a prostitution sting in Bloomington, Minnesota. (City of Bloomington/YouTube)
“I want to thank our agencies and detectives. Some of the stuff that they had to listen to for some of these folks is quite frankly just flat out filthy,” the chief said. “And to do that for as long as they had to do that, we don’t pay them enough sometimes.”
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges holds up mug shot of man arrested for allegedly soliciting sex in a prostitution sting. (City of Bloomington/YouTube)
Among those arrested was a 31-year-old convicted felon carrying an illegal gun, a man who drove about 80 miles from Wisconsin for sex, a homeless man who showed up to the meet-up spot with $200 in cash, and a respiratory therapist, according to police.
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Another man told cops when busted at the meet-up place that he had seen many movies about cops arresting johns, and that his “mind is running” over getting busted himself.
Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges holds up an orange jumpsuit after prostitution sting. (City of Bloomington/YouTube)
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The majority of the men arrested will be charged for gross misdemeanor sex offenses. The convicted felon arrested with a gun on him faces a possible charge of felony possession of a firearm.
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“When we do this… and we rescue one person, it’s worth it,” the chief said. “But the process of someone selling their body and giving someone else the money against their will, is something that we just can’t tolerate.”