Nights on Ninth Street

Time spent on the street can be decades

By EMILIE RAGUSO
eraguso@modbee.com

last updated: January 07, 2008 03:26:48 PM

The High Five

Most Emailed Stories

Related Stories

1. Law & Order
2. From a meal to an iPhone, prices fool brain
3. Thousands turn out to salute the troops in Modesto's annual July 4th parade
4. Modesto July 4th Parade winners
5. Dad who killed toddler wasn't on drugs, report says

The High Five are the five most-read stories, updated hourly.

1. MPA is St. Louis Bound
2. Books
3. Dad who killed toddler wasn't on drugs, report says
4. Apple store could be on its way to Modesto
5. Telling Turlock's Story: Film celebrates city's centennial

• Modesto laureate composes poem about prostitution

When April was 16, her 24-year-old boyfriend who was addicted to heroin persuaded her to turn tricks to get him money to buy drugs. She became addicted to heroin and is now HIV-positive. Twenty years later, she's still working the street.

"I hate it," she said one recent Saturday. "I hate everything about it. Being raped, being messed with."

Michelle Watson, 41, was living under a bridge five years ago when she decided prostitution was a solution.

"I was there for three days. I got hungry. I wanted cigarettes. I wanted dope. This was an easy way to get money," she said, then reconsidered. "The first time was real hard."

Day and night on South Ninth Street in Modesto, prostitutes stand outside motels or near pay phones, bus stops and taco trucks looking for their next trick. Most of them are women, but men sell their bodies, too.

Some are trying to make money to feed drug habits, others are trying to feed children, fund college or pay mortgages. Sex worker advocates lobby for safer working conditions and decriminalization. Academics study the types of reform or support services that can lead to healthier life.

Law enforcement agents do their best to discourage "the world's oldest profession," which, at the street level, often is mixed with drugs, pornography, rapes, assaults and other violence.

"People say it's a victimless crime, but what's victimless about it?" asked Stanislaus County sheriff's Sgt. Anthony Bejaran. "You got a girl beat up or drugged into becoming a prostitute, or who did it because her mom was a prostitute. There are drug debts. It's a nontaxed business. A lot of the women aren't clean. Most girls aren't happy about what they do. And pimps beat them up if they don't make enough. Is it really victimless?"

Harvest time good for business

It's impossible to say how many prostitutes work in the area, said Sgt. John Walker, the Special Team Investigating Narcotics and Gangs supervisor at the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department. But he estimated there are fewer than 100 street-level sex workers. Some nights, he's seen 15 to 20 prostitutes out at once, but other nights there's no one. Many are local but, for the past year or two, women have come from Fresno, Stockton and Sacramento to work on South Ninth.

When asked why they come, prostitutes have told officers they like the area and that they can work independently, without pimps. It's warm, so it's easy to be outside. And business is good, especially during the harvesting season.

The Sheriff's Department runs several stings a year to discourage the street sex trade. The most recent, Dec. 22-23, netted 33 arrests and citations: 10 suspected prostitutes and 22 suspected johns. One man was arrested during the operation on several felony drug violations.

During the first day, undercover officers drove around pretending to make deals for sex with prostitutes. They agreed on a price and an act. When the prostitute got into the car, he or she was taken to be arrested. Nine females, ages 15 to 47, were jailed on suspicion of solicitation. Officers picked up two men.

The next night, female detectives and a deputy acted as prostitutes, soliciting men outside the California Inn at 1130 S. Ninth St. Some wore large hoop earrings, others extra eye liner. Most donned jeans and flannel shirts. All wore a wire.

One woman at a time went into the parking lot.

"Hey man, how's it going? Want a date? Want to party?" came their voices over the wire. Men asked about various sex acts. Some left after hearing the price, which can range from $20 to $60, depending on the act, and the person offering the services. The general rule: the better looking, the higher the price.

• Comments
• Add Comment
• Disclaimer