Prostitutes for hire

Does anyone reading this NOT know that those "massage" places, the "Oriental massage" places, those "executive spa" places, all those places are w**** HOUSES?! You pay money to have sex with prostitutes in those places, right? And all those ads in the back of the Houston Press, they're all prostitutes, right? This is obvious to adults right?
These stories are so stupid. If our city wanted to do ANYTHING about prostitution, they would. Yeah right...
I dunno this is just annoying to me, something for the TV I guess...I mean hey, its the oldest profession in the world, it ain't going away.

Investigators: Prostitutes For Hire Online

When most people hear the word "prostitute," they think of a woman standing on a dark corner prowling for customers.

But the Internet has brought about a new breed of prostitute: the online prostitute, according to a News2Houston Investigators report.

The online escort is independent and mobile. It's a new twist on an old problem that police are finding nearly impossible to keep up with.

Thousands of new customers every day now have an easier time finding sex for money, the Investigators' Robert Arnold reported.

The News2Houston investigation showed why police are finding it nearly impossible to clamp down on the problem.

Hidden cameras were placed inside a southwest Houston motel room. But the encounter began on the Internet.

Dozens of Houston sites offer escort services. But a closer look shows that some give lines like, "cash only -- nobody needs a paper trail." Or, "I am not a prostitute. However, I am only sexually attracted to generous men." Other sites even make you certify that you are not a law enforcement officer before entering the site.

"We have never come across an escort service in the city of Houston that was not a front for prostitution," said Capt. David Cutler with the Houston Police Department.

With that in mind, Arnold started calling some of the hundreds of women offering escort services on the Internet.

Arnold asked an escort, "I don't know if you had some time or are available to meet tonight?"

"Tonight I will be available. Would you like to get together in a hotel?" the escort answered.

"Where do you want to meet -- in the lobby or at the room?" Arnold asked.

"I tell you what, if you get the room, just call me and I'll meet you in the room," the escort responded.

Once that appointment was set, Arnold spoke to a second escort.

"Call me back and let me know what room and everything. I'll be right there," the second escort said.

Back at the motel room, the first escort arrived and with little conversation asked, "Can I use the bathroom? You want to get comfortable?"

The word, "comfortable," was used a lot, according to Arnold.

"Do you want me to be comfortable?" the escort asked.

Arnold then asked, "What exactly does that mean?"

The escort replied, "You know."

Arnold said," No, honestly, I've never done this before."

The escort replied, "Comfortable. Shower comfortable? You want to take a shower with me? You're not a cop are you?"

Arnold answered, "No, I'm not a cop."

The escort asked, "Are you vice?"

When the second escort arrived, News2Houston took a more direct approach.

"Do you have sex when you come here or when you meet a guy?" Arnold asked.

"No, we can't talk about that yet," the escort answered. "How it works is -- you make yourself comfortable for me. It's just, um, for safety reasons so you're not the police or anything like that."

After a few minutes of verbal "cat and mouse," Arnold confronted the escorts, starting with the first one.

"I'm the investigative reporter for Channel 2. I'd like to ask you a few questions," said Arnold.

"I am not! Oh, no, no, no, no, no," the escort answered.

The first escort insisted that she was not doing anything wrong.

"If you're not nervous about what you're doing here and you're not doing anything illegal, why did you ask me four different times if I was a police officer? Then (you asked) me if I was with vice," Arnold asked.

"I asked because you're acting really weird, you know and I heard that you know. Oh, I don't know," the escort said.

What about the offer to take a shower together? Apparently, that was just a language barrier.

"Maybe my English is not so good, OK?" the escort said.

"No, your English is perfect," Arnold said.

Maybe it was because the air conditioner in the motel room was not working properly.

"So, why did you ask me to take a shower with you?" Arnold asked again.

"It's hot in here, you know. I'm really hot," the escort said.

The second escort was not as talkative.

When Arnold asked, "Tell us why you came here," she screamed, "Oh" and shut the door.

News2Houston took the undercover video to the captain of the Houston Police Department's vice division.

"When they say, 'Get comfortable,' that doesn't mean take your shirt off, take your socks and shoes off and sit in a lounge chair. That means -- get absolutely naked," Cutler said.

Since undercover officers are not allowed to disrobe, the escorts use this as a way to weed out cops from the customers.

Cutler also said that clamping down Internet escorts is next to impossible.

"Every site that goes down, there's probably one or two that comes up to replace it. So, it's like trying to empty the ocean out with a teaspoon," Cutler said.

News2Houston also spoke with licensed sex therapist, Dr. Barbara Levinson.

She said that the Internet is fueling desires that normally would have been extinguished, and in the process is creating a new class of both prostitute and customer.

"They can explore sexual interests and sexual fetishes that they wouldn't even normally think of," Levinson said. "We are a society who thinks that we can have it all and it certainly is all on the Internet."

Another new tactic these escorts try is saying, "You're paying me for my time only. The sex is free," according to News2Houston.

Police officers, prosecutors and defense attorneys told News2Houston that that defense would not hold up in court.