On September 12, 2022, the Berks County District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Task Force conducted an undercover operation that resulted in arrests and charges for three individual men. According to the District Attorney’s office, undercover detectives in this case placed ads on websites commonly known for sexual promotions in an effort to combat commercial sexual exploitation.
David Capuzzi, 35, Stephen Field, 33, and Earnest Baer Martin, 79, each allegedly responded to the advertisement and agreed to buy sex from minors reportedly aged from 13 to 15. The communications reveal that each man purportedly agreed to meet the minors at a hotel in Berks County. Officers arrested the men without incident when they arrived at the hotel. Capuzzi and Field were taken to the Berks County Sherriff’s Department Central Processing Center to be formally charged.
Capuzzi and Field both face charges of attempted statutory sexual assault, attempted unlawful contact with a minor, attempted indecent sexual assault, criminal use of a communication facility, and attempting to patronize prostitutes. Bail for both men was set at $30,000, but both Capuzzi and Field remain in custody at this time.
On September 15, 2022, Martin was charged but has not yet been arraigned. The CSE Institute applauds the Berks County District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Task Force in its efforts to battle sex trafficking. By targeting the demand of sex buyers, law enforcement officials are also targeting the root cause of sexual exploitation. The CSE Institute stands with survivors and advocates for the adoption of the Equality Model in the United States, as commercial sexual exploitation is most effectively stopped by putting an end to demand. The Equality Model consists of four key elements: (1) decriminalization of the prostituted person, (2) criminalization of sex buyers and facilitators with a commitment to treating buying sex as a serious crime, (3) a public education campaign about the inherent harms of prostitution, and (4) funded, robust, holistic exit services for victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The Equality Model directly targets the demand for buying sex by criminalizing sex buyers and traffickers, while decriminalizing the people who are being bought and sold for commercial sex. The decriminalization of people in prostitution recognizes those who are bought and sold for sex as exploited, not as perpetrators of a crime.
The CSE Institute also urges the hotel industry to stop turning a blind eye to the commercial sexual exploitation happening within their hotels. Instead, hotels and motels should become a leading force in stopping this exploitation altogether. The CSE Institute recognizes the need for legislation that would require these types of trainings, policies, and procedures to be implemented in every hotel and motel across the country.
The CSE Institute will provide updates on this matter as they become available.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.