Ore. woman arrested for prostitution at police station
SALEM, Ore. -- Police in Oregon arrested an alleged prostitute after the Portland woman attempted to ply her trade at the Salem Police Department.
Police say 20-year-old Christal D. Smith showed up at police headquarters on Jan. 11 after speaking online, over the phone and through text message with an undercover officer. Smith allegeldy agreed to come to Salem from Portland to have sex with the man for money.
When she asked where the tryst would take place, the undercover officer directed her to an unmarked door at the police department.
It's unclear if Smith realized the building was police headquarters, but in order to get to the unmarked door she had to walk through a courtyard where the clearly marked public entrance to the Salem Police Department is located. She also walked past a number uniformed officers, according to police.
When Smith reached the unmarked door and tried to meet up with the "John," officers swooped in and arrested her. She was booked into Marion County Jail for prostitution and promoting prostitution. Jail records indicate Smith was released Jan. 14 on her own recognizance.
The arrest happened to take place on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day
Lots of assumptions here.
Well try this one on for size.
She is a smart successful business woman that has made so much money from police and other authority figures as clientele over time that she felt secure enough to go to a side door of the police station.
Not the first time.
What a waste of resources. Police officers should not get paid to pursue these things, entrapping the desparate .
 @SoTweetie Her arrest could lead to the arrest of her drug dealer, then the trafficer, or to the arrest of a pimp who is pimping underage girls. The destruction of criminal networks is usually put into motion by a single arrest, but you never know what arrest it will be.
So, she was booked for prostitution and promoting prostitution. I can see the promiting prostitution charge, however, the prostitution charge...did she "do" a cop??
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Also, love "The arrest happened to take place on National Human Trafficking Awareness Day" comment at the end of the story. Thanks for making us think KOMO Staff. You are so thoughtful. (gag)
She does not look 20. Very sad to live a life so rough at such a young age.
cops doing a whole lot of nuthin once again,i can just hear the tax dollars fluttering away in the salem wind.
I got to thinking this one over. What in sam hell is a Salem police officer doing going through the personal ads looking for a Portland whore. Don't they have these people down there in Salem? Is business in Salem so slow they have to reach out to Portland. True, Portland does have a large share of this type of people, but I'm sure there are a few in Salem. Maybe the Salem girls, "sic" are smarter than the Portland girls. And what is the purpose of this arrest. It has cost Salem al least the time this hero officer spent in his little dingy office combing through all those ads. Bet he enjoyed that to the most. And I'm sure this isn't the first time this little pimp squeak has looked through these ads. What is the punishment. A fine, a week in jail, a slap on the wrist. Another burden for the Oregon courts. Total cost to the state will run into the thousands. For what? What a moron.
ARG...that ugly POS is 20?? It looks at least 50. She can't possibly be making a living lookin like that! And then in the PD's great wisdom, she is released on her own recog?!?! A real Darwin representative......here's your sign!!!
This isn't a good thing to be internationally famous for. She will be carrying that reputation around for a long time. I'd suggest a change of name and venue when they release her. She should go to Vegas, maybe they have a school or something.
I guess it's all part of budget cutting. Bring the crime to the station, that way the don't have to pay patrol officers on the streets!
There's not enough beer in the WORLD...........
@Harley-H.S.C. - man this made me laugh way too hard whilst here in the office
 @Harley-H.S.C. There's not enough of anything in the world. Damn!
Christal and Po Po with a real touching five-one-five-oh story
In Germany, (and other parts of europe) they have 'social' jobs for the unemployed, so people don't face homelessness if they are unemployed but willing to work. People's rent, utilities and basic food are covered, and they earn 2 Euros per hour filling jobs that benefit society in some way. Actually, a lot of out-of-work artists or writers take the jobs,
 @Irmtraut That's actually an excellent idea with even better potential. Look at how many don't (or won't) work because childcare would eat up too much of their pay.
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With proper screening and background checks, of course, some of these people could operate a childcare center, even an around-the-clock one for those who work all sorts of different hours and shifts. Â
The new face of 20 is looking a little aged. We know she can read since she corresponded in writing by email text and read the directions on where to go for the meeting. Now those pesky police station signs are more difficult read while in a drug haze. Will her lawyer say entrapment when she walked into the police officers place of work?
 @Cinn According to the article (bearing in mind it's KOMO-generated and they don't check their work anymore), one of her charges is promoting prostitution.
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Pure speculation as I have zero legal background, but for promoting I'm guessing she initiated the contact, possibly by placing a personals ad online.
Since it's about an hour to an hour-and-a-half drive by car, probably a good two to three hours by bus, it likely wasn't a local newspaper.Â
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(With KOMO's raging hard-on for Craigslist dirt, presumably they were unable to dig up an even remote connection to that site since it isn't mentioned here.)
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But your actual question was speculating what her defense might try to get her off (so to speak), and that is most likely a YES whether it's plausible or not, since throwing every random thing against the wall and hoping something miraculously sticks seems to be the common defense of the clearly guilty.
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Oh, and yes, that is one rough stretch of highway pictured up there; I was startled to read she's only 20 years old even with the rough life she's apparently led!
Even reading that she's 30 would have caused me to scroll up and look closely at the photo again!Â
 2 things made this arrest possible.
1)Â A "not very bright" prostitute
2) very lazy cops who didn't want to leave their desks to make the arrest.
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Great story....
sometimes i think police have way to much time on their hands,really how was this supposed to help society besides adding another person to their jail.get off your butts police and work for the tax dollars,not by conning a prostitute from another city for money and then arrest her? that is simply pathetic,there are so many instances were police are needed.the old mantra of "serve and protect"  isnt on the logo anymore,they serve themselves and meter out justice where they see fit... how sad.
@David Janssen Getting a ho off of the streets to stop spreading her disease...that's how.
@Robert Browning huge waste of time,she will be out of jail in a day or so.where is that getting anybody? NOWHERE!
Was she offering to pay them? I find it hard to believe she thought anyone would pay her.
 @Alex Clayton There are some very sick perverts out there in our society
that pay to have sex with farm animals. This individual probably has the correct
plumbing to make that sort of sick pervert and similar types of perverts very
satisfied.
You don't have anything better to do than 'swoop' in on hookers already at the police station? Jeez. Oregon. That is all.
Hahahahahahaha! What a freaking idiot!
Stay classy Ore.
And for a mere $200, you too can have HIV.
 @UtterReality WTF??!!? You're talking about paying $200 for THAT, with the screen name of UtterReality?  :D :DÂ
They gave her a fair chance.
Here's your sign...
Meth adds age and in this case...... Ewwwww.......EEEWWwwwwwwwww. Guys [or whatever] pay for this? Hookers always look better from a distance...... and this one should stand way down at he end of a darrrrk alley.
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@komoispropaganda She would have to get about a mile away to look anything close to "good"
 @komoispropaganda How about Cleveland?