County still deals with prostitution

By DAVID MARTIN

Editor

The days of K Street’s infamy or Cat Willis’ Cat House may be long gone, but prostitution never left Sweetwater County.

Prostitutes no longer walk the streets or sit at a bar in search of customer, they utilize the internet and a series of websites frequented by those seeking a sexual encounter.

“It’s not that prostitution has ever gone away, it’s just headed down a different avenue,” Alison Deters, public information officer for the Rock Springs Police Department, said.

Deters said while technology has changed the nature of many crimes, it has greatly changed how prostitutes and their customers interact.

Charging documents relating to Bradley Fairbourn’s murder and attempted murder charges in Rock Springs reference Backpage.com, a website that allows users to post free classified ads, but hosts an adult section offering multiple sexually-explicit ad categories.

While the categories include ads for massages and exotic dancers, men and women seeking to sell their time as companions place ads under the escort section. For Wyoming, a daily list of ads from women across the state, most staying in one city for a couple of days before moving on to another city. Advertisements don’t explicitly state that sexual encounters are for sale, but utilize carefully constructed phrases and code words to communicate the seller’s intent, as well as if they offer to travel to a customer or allow customers into their hotel rooms. Some escort advertisements even list prices and service menus, charging $200 or more an hour for an escort’s services.

Deters said the police department has been aware of prostitution occurring in Rock Springs, but has focused on the activity more recently, attempting to curb potential violence against sex workers. The RSPD has dealt with the issue several times in the last year, making arrests of both providers and customers. Most recently, the RSPD, working with the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a sting operation of men soliciting prostitutes May 19, arresting an Arizona resident, two Rock Springs residents and a Green River resident in that operation. On May 13, a prostitution investigation led to the arrest of not only an alleged prostitute, but a man RSPD and sheriff’s office investigators claim provided methamphetamine to tenants of an apartment building he managed.

The sheriff’s office conducted an operation of their own Nov. 20, 2015, arresting one Rock Springs resident, a Rawlins resident and four men from outside the state.

The first arrests made involving prostitution occurred Nov. 3, 2015, when officers responded to the Rock Springs Motel 6 after receiving complaints about potential prostitution, arresting two Las Vegas residents for prostitution and promoting prostitution. Also arrested were two Rock Springs residents and one Green River resident for soliciting prostitution.

Before that, the last arrest made for prostitution occurred in 2008.

History in Sweetwater County

Like many Western towns, prostitution happened in the early days of mining and railroad towns like Rock Springs and Green River. Brie Blasi, executive director of the Sweetwater County Historical Museum, said the towns would often turn a blind eye to brothels because the towns would tax them higher and their owners would donate money to improve the community. While the brothels always had their critics amongst those interested in prohibition and other progressive agendas, the arguments fell on deaf ears so long as the money was flowing in.

“Town officials ignored prostitution because they brought in a lot of money and they paid their taxes,” Blasi said.

This higher taxation took place as recently as the mid 1940s in Green River, when the city decided to tax gambling halls and brothels to pay for housing on the south side.

“That is how they built these Western towns, whether they like to admit it or not,” Blasi said.

Blasi also said officials ignored prostitution in their towns as long as the brothel owners did not attempt to cross into polite society. Green River’s brothels were located on the south side of the town, where the town’s ethnic population lived. The area was separated from the other, white-dominated section of the town.

When that societal barrier was breached, the town’s residents would complain. Such is the case with Kitty Hicks, the owner of the White House in Rock Springs during the late 1800s. Hicks initially built a house away from the growing coal town, near where East Side Elementary School is currently located. However, the town grew to encompass Hicks’ house and resulted in other residents not being happy with a brothel owner living in their neighborhood.