BREWER, Maine โ Undercover police investigating drug use and its link to prostitution and other crimes recently hired four local female escorts who each agreed to have sex for money. The four were then charged, Brewer police Lt. Chris Martin said Thursday. Then the rest of the countercrime team entered the undisclosed Wilson Street motel room and took custody of the women one after the other. The deals were captured on hidden audio and video recorders set up in the motel room.
Dubrowski, Hamm and Ahmed all have been convicted of unlawful possession of scheduled drugs within the last seven months, according to court listings printed in the Bangor Daily News. Rowe was convicted of theft by receiving stolen property in March, the BDN archives state. Many Mainers are addicted to drugs, especially diverted prescription drugs, and are breaking the law to feed their addiction , Martin noted. Morris said Tuesday, a fact Brewer police have stressed for a decade, according to Martin.
Backpage features an array of services and items for sale and has an adult escort section that Maine Attorney General William Schneider and his counterparts from across the country say is being used to advertise prostitution services. Under its adult services section, Backpage connects clients to escorts, body rubs, strippers, strip clubs, domination and fetish providers, transsexuals, male escorts, adult jobs and pornographic websites.
The recent prostitution charges are not the first time Brewer police have busted women for selling their bodies. Six local women and the owner of a Bangor escort service that had been around for more than a dozen years were caught in a Brewer police prostitution sting. All seven women were charged with promotion of prostitution, a Class D misdemeanor. Four women and seven men were charged last year in a prostitution sting in Cumberland County by police who used Backpage, and 47 were charged in Florida during a three-day sting in March when police in the Sunshine State used the Internet site as a tool to catch the suspects.
The website Craigslist removed its erotic services section in May and shut down its adult services section in September A lawyer for Backpage could not be reached for comment on Thursday. One reason police pursue prostitution cases, especially those involving drug addicts, is to eradicate associated crimes such as robbery, theft and assault, Martin said.
