Crime & Safety
'World's Oldest John' Won't Face Charges
An 87-year-old man charged with soliciting a prostitute said he thought the undercover cop was a woman from his church.
Authorities in western Michigan have decided there’s not much point in prosecuting a man they say is likely the world’s oldest john.
Howard Arthur Klein, 87, allegedly solicited an undercover cop posing as a prostitute in Grand Rapids earlier this summer, the first mar on the retired fruit farmer’s otherwise clean criminal record, The Grand Rapids Press and WOOD-TV are reporting. But on Sept. 1, authorities dropped the solicitation charges filed against him.
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“What would be the purpose in prosecuting him?” Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth said. “He wouldn’t and shouldn’t go to jail, and 87 years without involvement in the criminal justice system has, in my opinion, earned him a pass.”
Four others, two men and two women, arrested in the June 26 sting will face charges. Klein reportedly said he thought he recognized the woman who approached him as someone he had met in church.
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“I talked to this gal from St. Pete’s and Paul’s,” Klein told WOOD-TV. “I thought that I knew her. I didn’t say nothing to her. I just said, ‘Hi,’ and nothing else and I left.”
The sting operation took place in an area that Grand Rapids police say has been worked for years by prostitutes. The other four arrested were released on bond on the condition they stay away from the notorious area.
Police don’t expect the sting to eliminate prostitution, but think instead that it will simply move red-light districts away from a neighborhood where residents have complained about the activity for years.
Sherry Bodell, who lives and works in the area, said she’s been approached by men who assume she’s a prostitute, too.
“I’ve had people stop and ask me, ‘How much?’ ” Bodell told the TV station. “I’ve had people just randomly try calling me up to the car, and I’ll be like, ‘I’m not a hooker. Keep going.’ “
She’s said it’s sad that her neighborhood has become known for prostitution.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “I live across the street from a church.”
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