In an effort to combat human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation throughout the area, especially in local hotels, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office often implements joint initiatives with law enforcement to make critical arrests. This collaborative approach has recently led to the arrest of two Bucks County men on charges of patronizing prostitutes.
Thomas Lloyd Dobrek and Mauricio Rivera-Alcantara were arrested on July 14, 2017 after undercover officers from the Horsham Police Department placed an advertisement online selling sex, according to The Bensalem Patch. Both men allegedly engaged in extensive communications with the officers via text messages and phone calls focused on arranging a meeting. The men also both allegedly agreed to pay for the sex acts ahead of time. Authorities made the arrests at the pre-determined meeting place, and the two men now await their preliminary hearings before the Honorable Judge Harry J. Nesbitt in Horsham.
The CSE Institute is an ardent supporter of demand-driven law enforcement tactics as a targeted approach to eliminate commercial sexual exploitation. In contrast to historic policing methods which focused heavily on the already-marginalized sellers of sex, targeting the people who buy sex comports with the basic economic theory that supply and distribution follow demand, and it aids in eliminating commercial sex markets is a more effective means to battle human trafficking, all together.
The actions of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office are a shining example of what the CSE Institute implores law enforcement to do in order to effectively confront commercial sexual exploitation. The traditional, ill-reasoned, prejudiced approach of arresting and confining prostituted-persons while letting sex buyers avoid legal consequences does nothing to eradicate the problem, and instead only perpetuates the harmful idea that buying entry into someone’s body is somehow socially acceptable.
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.