Houston PD Releases 122 Arrest Photos In Sex Trade Crackdown

HOUSTON, TX — Meet Maria. Maria is a young woman in Houston who just gave birth just six months ago. With her life ahead of her and a bright future for her child, and for no reason other than profit and primal savagery, they were kidnapped all of a sudden. The man who abducted them in an instant became Maria's pimp.

Everyday Maria was given a certain amount of condoms and told to hit the street and not come back until she's gone through all of them. If she didn't obey orders, or use the allotted amount of condoms, then the pimp would beat her, sexually assault her and threaten harm to her child.

To protect herself, she unwillingly hit the streets every time she was told to do so. Men would drive by to pick up Maria, and she would beg for their help.

"Help me. Please, I need some help," Maria would plea to each driver picking her up for sex.

But all she got was blank stares and excuses on why they wouldn't help her. Instead of seeing the look of desperation in Maria's eyes, each man would dig into his own selfish consciousness to bargain his way out of helping a mom who was scared and fighting for her own life and that of her 6-month-old child.

"I'm married with kids," one man would say. Another said they were employed and didn't want their bosses to find out.

Many often said, "I don't want to get involved."

Well, Houston Vice Division Captain Jim Dale had stern words Thursday for those drivers trying to pick up Maria or solicit sex from women on the streets, in brothels, massage parlors or through online ads.

"What we're saying is you are involved," Dale said Thursday. "And if you're thinking of going down to pick up prostitutes, you may or can be on that HPD Flickr page. And if you do go down there and pick them up, we will arrest you and charge you."

Dale told the story of Maria and his division's interviews with her at a news conference Thursday afternoon regarding 122 men arrested over the last three months trying to buy sex with women. He didn't give the name of the woman in this story, so we just named her Maria.

The Houston Police Department's Vice Division on Thursday released the booking photos of suspects arrested for either compelling prostitution (pimps) or solicitation of prostitution (johns) for the first three months of 2018.

“We hope by publishing these suspects' photos we will raise awareness of the issue that is human trafficking and put the community on notice that we will no longer tolerate these crimes in our neighborhoods," Dale said.

The photos, posted on the HPD Flickr page, are from those arrested between Jan. 1 and March 31 this year — the first quarter of 2018. The photos will be updated on a monthly basis and represent persons arrested and charged. All photos with names on each individual picture can be seen here.

Capt. Dale held a news conference Thursday afternoon to brief the ongoing process of cracking down on johns, pimps and overall human sex trafficking. He began by saying that 10-20 years ago, such news briefings would be held with photos of women who'd been arrested for prostitution, and now they're taking a different approach.

"Since those intervening years, we've realized the role of prostitution and the victimization of these women for prostitutes has changed," Dale said. "It's called human trafficking, specifically sex trafficking."

On Thursday HPD posted pictures of the buyers, which they label "the demand side."

"In the past it was the supply side that we focused on, and we turned a blind eye to what the men were doing, and not anymore" Dale said. "What they're doing now is fueling this crime and their continued solicitation of these women, and promotes the victimization of these women.

"So we decided, if you're going to do that, we're going to promote you on our HPD Flickr page, and we're also going to arrest you if you go down there."

Dale said the arrests mostly came on street operations where men were going to pay for sex. The captain said his division gets a lot of "it's a victimless crime" to "it's the oldest profession," "this is a service they're providing to the men" and "why don't we legalize prostitution" when interacting with members of those communities.

"They couldn't be more wrong, and that's where the education component comes in," Dale said. "These women are not doing this on their own volition. They're not volunteering to do this. In fact, my investigators work dozens of cases like this each week where the women are truly victims."

Dale then told the story of "Maria" as stated above.

Alternatives for the 'johns arrested'
Capt. Dale said the department and his division will offer some alternative resources for many of the johns, as he said most of them are first-time offenders.

Dale introduced Joe Madison, who represents the non-profit group "Love People, Not Pixels," which is a group focused on helping men get away from seeking prostitution and online sex.

"So if you want to save your marriage and you want to help your children and you want to save your job, this is an alternative to go and seek help," Capt. Dale said. "It's private and discreet, and they'll offer you the resources that you need.

The phone number for "Love People, Not Pixels" is (346) 229-9777. The group is operated by a former sex addict who decided to turn his life around, according to Dale.

The Houston Police Department asks that if anyone knows of any human trafficking, or human sex trafficking, to call 1-888-373-7888, even if they just suspect it. Dale also urges any women who feel they're being victimized to call that number.

Here's the link to Capt. Dale's press conference on Thursday.

Photos via Houston PD Flickr page