LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – The NBC Action News Investigators received new information Wednesday regarding the arrests of four women in Leavenworth during a prostitution sting.
Leavenworth police said the four are from Kansas City and range in age from 21 to 24-years-old.
Investigators with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Leavenworth Police Department worked on the sting Saturday night into Sunday morning. Police say undercover officers contacted the women who posted ads on a Web site. The women then came to a Leavenworth motel where officers placed them under arrest.
Leavenworth police say three were arrested for prostitution. A fourth woman who drove a friend to the motel was arrested on an outstanding drug warrant.
Ashley Burns, of Kansas City, was one of the women police charged with prostitution.
In April, the NBC Action News Investigators met Burns while conducting a
hidden camera investigation tracing sexually explicit ads on Craigslist to women living in homes throughout Kansas City and the suburbs.
An undercover producer responded to an ad titled “The BLO and Go you’ve all heard about.” Burns directed the producer to a home in North Kansas City.
See Our Hidden Cam Encounter with Ashley Burns at the Home She Directed Us To
When Burns greeted the producer at the front door, another woman left with a baby. Burns told the producer she has a 9-month-old child.
When asked how the meeting works, Burns told the undercover producer “you do the normal thing... you do what grown people... and that’s about it.” The producer then left.
Leavenworth police say they conducted the weekend sting operation after getting complaints about prostitution. Police say the undercover officers responded to ads placed not on craigslist, but another website which allows ads offering sex for a price.
These arrests come after
Craigslist promised to remove its erotic section in an effort to stop the online solicitation of sex.
Tuesday, attorneys general in seven states, including Missouri, asked for more details on how Craigslist will keep these types of ads off its newly created “Adult Services” section.
"It's a step forward, but we need to know what specific measures Craigslist is using," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said. "How many people are assigned to do the manual review of these ads? How many ads have been eliminated? What criteria have been used?"
San Francisco-based Craigslist has not prescreened ads in the past, but says postings in its new adult services section are reviewed before being posted.
Authorities have expressed concern about the adult ads in the past, but the criticism grew more pointed after a Boston-area man was accused of the April 14 death of a woman who advertised on Craigslist. Police believe 22-year-old Philip Markoff may have been involved in other crimes against women who also posted ads on Craigslist.
