Investigation leads to prostitution arrests

A tip from the Wyoming Highway Patrol led to a prostitution bust at the Motel 6 in Rock Springs last week.

Five people were arrested in the Nov. 3 bust. Katrina Ross, 30, of Las Vegas was arrested for allegedly committing acts of prostitution, a misdemeanor offense. Davinvi Dupree, 31, of Las Vegas, was arrested for allegedly promoting prostitution, also a misdemeanor offense. Rock Springs residents Robert William Henderson, 44, and Nicholas Matthew Suhr, 22, as well as Green River resident Miguel A. Munoz, 32, were arrested for soliciting prostitution, which is a misdemeanor offense. The different prostitution-related charges each have a maximum sentence of six months in jail, as well as up to a $750 fine.

Rock Springs Police Chief Dwayne Pacheco said the RSPD was alerted to suspected prostitution through a tip from the Wyoming Highway Patrol. RSPD detectives, working in conjunction with the highway patrol watched the entrance to a hotel room at the Motel 6 and observed multiple people walking into and leaving the room.

Officers watched Suhr, Henderson and Munoz each knock at the hotel room door, which would be opened by Ross. According to court documents, the three Sweetwater County residents were picked up by law enforcement after they were seen leaving the hotel room. After being questioned, the police department claims each man admitted to paying for sexual favors, which allegedly ranged from $100 to $300 for a visit.

Pacheco said prostitution typically is a complaint-driven crime that doesn’t often have a victim, at least in the traditional sense, as it’s usually a nonviolent crime. He said typical complaints regarding prostitution can come through complaints from a hotel with a suspected prostitute in the building.

Complaints can also arise from one of the two parties feeling like they’ve been wronged in the transaction, though Pacheco says those calls are often reported as a theft, with the reporting party not disclosing the fact that it was a sex-for-money transaction.

Pacheco believes prostitution has been an ongoing problem for Rock Springs. He said it’s often prevalent in truck stops and some of the bars throughout the city, not just sexually-oriented businesses like the Bareback Saloon or the Astro Lounge.

However, one area where prostitution has proliferated is online. A number of websites exist where men and women advertise themselves using a mixture of code words, sensual photographs and list a telephone number or email address they can be reached at. Pacheco said one of the problems involved with investigating prostitution is if they’re not alerted to the fact that it is going on, they don’t know it’s happening.

“I always tell our citizens they are the best monitors of what’s normal in the community,” Pacheco said, urging residents to contact the police department if they see anything they believe could be illicit activity.