National Day of Johns Arrests Results: Over 500 Arrested

When law enforcement participates in a sting operation, it means they are intentionally working a deceptive operation designed to catch criminals. One of the most common types of sting operations are those that law enforcement set up in order to arrest people who are engaging in the crime of solicitation. Targets of these sting operations are usually the people who are seeking to purchase the services of a prostitute (referred to as ‘johns’) or the people who are involved in trafficking prostitutes (referred to as ‘pimps’).

Recently, Chicago Police, along with 28 other law enforcement agencies around the country, participated in the "National Day of Johns Arrests." The program resulted in the arrests of 500 johns and 14 pimps.

National Day of Johns Arrests was conceived in 2011 by Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart. In the first program, only eight law enforcement agencies were involved. However, that number has grown to 59 different agencies nationwide who have participated in one of the eight programs that have taken place since 2011. The total number of johns who have been arrested in the eight combined sweeps total 2,328.

The combined arrests of the 28 law enforcement agencies who participated in this sweep included the following:

• 496 arrests for sexual solicitation (johns);
• 172 johns were arrested as a result of fake Backstage.com classified ads. These arrests will result in a minimum of $174,205 in minimum fines;
• There were 232 vehicles belonging to johns that were either towed or seized;
• 16 illegal weapons were seized;
• There were outstanding warrants on 11 of the johns taken into custody; and
• There were 19 johns who were arrested for possession of narcotics.

Law enforcement also reported the recovery of 111 prostitution victims. Thirteen victims were juveniles.

If you have been arrested for solicitation or any other sex crimes, the accusations can have a damaging impact to your reputation and you will need to contact an aggressive Cook County sex crimes defense attorney to help defend you against these charges.