Daytona Beach police arrested 16 people in a prostitution sting Friday and Saturday, focusing on prostitutes one day and men looking for them the next, according to reports.
Seven women -- Sandra Pulak, 48, Kara Pennington, 51, Jennifer Lahive, 35, Katheleen Mercado, 36, ShoniaJean Ford Lajoie, 45, Michelle Olivieri, 48, and Joleen Nicole Farwell, 30 -- were arrested on various prostitution charges.
Four of the women were charged with a first offense. Pulak, Pennington and Lahive were charged as repeat offenders. Pennington has been arrested 59 times since 2001 on a variety of charges including battery and drug possession, but with the majority of arrests for prostitution. Lahive has been arrested 57 times since 2001, mostly on drug-related charges but with prostitution charges since 2011.
Farwell, Lahive, and Olivieri also were charged with possession of paraphernalia.
On Saturday afternoon police went after the customers, netting 9. Terrell Hadden, 27, David Wilson, 80, Calvin Jackson, 58, Rodney Smith, 41, David McAndrew, 47, Thomas McManus, 58, Alan Waddell, 50, Jester Mombu, 27, and Jerome Smith, 30, were all charged with offer/agree/secure for lewd act.
McAndrew and Wadell were also charged with possession of cocaine. Mombu was charged with operating while DL suspend/cancel/revoked. And Thomas McManus was charged with operating while dl suspend/cancel/revoked, possession of cannabis not more than 20 grams, no motorcycle endorsement, and possession of paraphernalia.
This is the second sting this month after an earlier one also resulted in 16 arrests. None of the people arrested Friday or Saturday were among the numbers arrested in the previous sting.
Daytona police focused their attention on the city’s Ridgewood Avenue corridor — an area notorious for prostitution — after community groups complained about the number of prostitutes, Capt. Scott Lee said at the time.
“Sometimes you come in and only get four or five arrests,” Lee said then, “but sometimes you get a lot more. Sixteen is a lot.”
Check back for more details.
News-Journal writers Nancy Niles and Tony Holt contributed to this story.
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