Bay County Sheriff's Office Arrests Eight in Prostitution Sting

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PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Deputies of the Bay County Special Investigations Unit took on a different role to get their job done.

"They went to an online site, known for having advertisements, lots of ads are posted by prostitutes," said Ruth Corley, Bay County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer.

In an attempt to get prostitutes and those who solicit sex off the street.

"The prostitute arrives at the hotel room and goes in and she meets with law enforcement and she's arrested for prostitution and if the man comes, he's met at the door by law enforcement and gets arrested for solicitation," said Corley. 

Over the course of two days, the sheriff's office arrested eight individuals; three prostitutes and five men.

Corley says every person will initially face misdemeanor charges and possibly others. "One of the things we've also found is that a lot of the times either the prostitute or the men who show up to pay them bring drugs, so we had a lot of drug related charges as well."

She says some may question why the sheriff's office put so much effort into cases like these and Corley says, there could be more to the situation.

Corley said, "It's very important that people understand that these women could be part of a sex trafficking ring and someone is controlling them and someone is forcing them to live this lifestyle and they don't want to and the way that we can find out so we can help them is by conducting these types of operations."

Corley said the Sheriff's Office will continue to perform sting operations at random.