The deputies of the Spotsylvania County Virginia Sheriffs Department may have given new meaning to the term "giving your all" when, in the course of conducting a sting operation on the Moon Spa, a massage parlor on Plank Road, they actually engaged in sexual activity with several of the women, not once, but four times. On one occassion, one of the officers left a 350 dollar tip.
Then, the evidence having carefully been gathered, they busted them. As might be expected, this raised quite a bit more than just the deputies involved, including quite a few eyebrows. Yet, Sheriff Howard D. Smith, who initiated the sting operation, insisted that actual sexual contact was the only way to insure a conviction, reasoning that most prostitutes are careful not to say anything that is incriminating. He gave his assurrances that only unmarried officers were utilized.
Henry "Hap" Connors Jr., Chairman of the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors, was unaware of the practice, and seemed to be well displeased. There were other crimes to investigate, such as the recent stabbing death of a local teen, in which the officers time would be better spent than in what would seem to be the mere "pursuit of pleasurable acts".
Supervisor Robert Hogan said that it sounded to him like a legal question. He felt that if other jurisdictions were able to mount a successful sting, and prosecution, without going to this extent, then Spotsylvania County should be able to do it too. "But I'm not the Sheriff," he said, "and Howard's a pretty smart guy."
He then added, almost as an afterthought, "It seems extreme."
According to prosecutors, in addition to judges, legal experts, and even defense attorneys, all that is usually required to conduct a successful sting and follow up prosecution is a verbal agreement to perform sexual sevices for pay, augmented at most by an overt act such as the removal of clothing.
Yet, to be completely fair, this might not be the fault of the Sheriff, not entirely,who may have had his hands tied by the vagaries of the local law. While some jurisdictions may be clear on the procedures and the legalities involved, others may not be so clear, and in fact may be open to interpretation. It could well be that Spotsylvania County is just such a case.
If that is the case, however, it would seem to me the best recourse would be to move toward clarifying the law. Even that, however, may not be the entire answer. Insofar as local governments in a good many cases tend to be notoriously corrupt, it could well be that something this drastic may have been needed to illustrate just exactly how pervasive the problem is in regards to this particular county. The problem could well reside as much or more in the County's judicial chambers or those of the Hall Of Supervisors than in those of the Moon Spa.
Whatever the case, it hardly warrants going to this extreme. It would seem to be a clear case of the misuse of the taxpayers money, to say nothing of a betrayal of trust. But as much or more than this, or the idea that the Sheriff's Department, as well as the County as a whole, is now pretty much a laughing stock, there is a public safety issue to consider. Safety precautions being unreliable, even in this advanced age, these officers were put, however willingly, in the position of possibly contracting an STD, such as syphyllis, AIDS, gonorrhea, clymidea, or herpes, to say nothing of hepatitis, that could have easily been transferred to their girlfriends, and from there on to the general community.
No, the best recourse would be to treat this matter not as a public morals issue, but as a public health concern. In the event such a disease could be traced back to the establishment, it could be closed on those grounds, and the owners and operators prosecuted. In addition to this, zoning laws could be rewritten which could conceivably allow for the strict regulation of this obviously adult oriented business. Anything but this.
The only other reasonable alternative would seem to be to drop the charges against the women, and write finis to the saga of this ill-advised policy. Should it continue from this point on, put it down to money well spent for officers morale-a kind of fringe benefit.
