Posted on: April 10, 2024, 03:03h.
Last updated on: April 10, 2024, 03:03h.
Police recently have been investigating possible sex trade activity in the area of a Pennsylvania gaming property and nearby hotel.
As recently as late last month, Upper Merion Township Police Department detectives assigned to the special investigations unit (SIU) were searching for those involved in a suspected prostitution ring at the Valley Forge Casino’s Stardust Hotel in King of Prussia, Pa., according to Patch.
The investigation was launched after a woman advertised her services on a website. Police also received tips of suspicious activity around the hotel.
Detectives put the hotel area under surveillance on March 27. They waited in a parking lot to see if the woman was there.
During the police operation, the suspect was seen leaving the hotel. Officers went up to the woman and asked her for an identification and requested her name.
She gave police a name, officers said, but detectives quickly realized it was fictitious.
Resisting Arrest
They then tried to arrest the woman. She struggled with the officers until police got her under control.
Upon searching her, police said they found drug paraphernalia, an unspecified amount of suspected crack cocaine, and syringes.
She was charged with giving a false ID to law enforcement, resisting arrest, possession of drug paraphernalia, and drug possession.
It also was discovered that the same woman was wanted on a warrant for drug charges by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, police said.
Local news reports did not identify the woman or provide her age or address.
More Drug Counts
Two men also were with her at the hotel. Officers went up to them and asked for their names.
Police discovered that one of them was wanted by the Philadelphia Police Department on drug charges. The unnamed man also had drug paraphernalia, suspected cocaine, suspected crack cocaine, and syringes with him at the hotel.
He was charged with drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Both the man and the woman later were booked at Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
Charges are now pending in local court. No word if either suspect has entered pleas before a judge.
It is unknown if the woman or either man will face prostitution-related charges, too.
The second man was not charged and was released from police custody. He also was not identified in local news reports.
It appears that police investigation of possible prostitution and related criminal activity at the hotel is continuing.
