61 Men Have Prostitution Cases Dismissed After Police Error

BELLEVUE, WA - Cases against more than half of the men arrested in Bellevue's "Operation On Demand" prostitution sting will be dismissed on a technicality, according to Bellevue police. Of the 110 arrested in the sex trafficking sting, 61 will have their cases dropped because they were audio recorded without their consent, a violation of state's two-party consent law.

After several large prostitution stings in recent years, Bellevue police over the summer opened a fake brothel in a condominium to take advantage of a "void" in the local prostitution market. Bellevue police along with King County Sheriff's Office arrested the 110 men over the course of just seven days. Mitch Levy of the KJR 950 Mitch In The Morning show was one of the men arrested in the sting.

The operation included audio and video recording inside the fake brothel. The city of Bellevue said in a statement that "unfortunately, audio conversations were unintentionally between the suspect and the undercover officers in 61 of 110 cases." Under state law, all parties being recorded on audio must first give consent.

“While this turn of events is disheartening, it is important to remain focused on the goal of operations such as this: to eradicate human trafficking and its related crimes wherever they exist,” said Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett in a statement. “The mistakes made in this case were just that, mistakes. We will learn from these missteps and ensure we do not repeat them in future operations. Rest assured, there will be future undercover operations such as this one to achieve our goal.”

The Bellevue Reporter reported that the error was caused by a King County Sheriff's Deputy, but the sheriff's office did not respond to a request from Patch for comment.

Bellevue police and the King County Sheriff's Office over the past several years have successfully shut down some 20 brothels in the city.

One brothel, detailed in an extensive Seattle Times story, trafficked young South Korean women. The men who patronized the brothel called themselves the "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and wrote online reviews of their experiences inside the brothel.

Caption: Bellevue Capt. Marcia Harnden (front) works with other investigators in the command center for this week’s operation

Image courtesy Bellevue police