Lackawanna County recently charged two men in separate incidents for attempting to exchange methamphetamine for sexual services.
On January 13, Lackawanna County charged Jason Wood after he allegedly arranged to exchange methamphetamine for sexual services at a Scranton Hotel. He is now charged with criminal use of a communications facility, criminal attempt to criminal use of a communications facility, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, patronizing a prostitute, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Investigators became aware of Wood’s alleged crimes while monitoring a website commonly used to facilitate prostitution. The website hosts advertisements for sexual services, including “explicit descriptions and images,” and provides details about payment methods and meeting locations. Using this website, the defendant allegedly contacted an undercover officer purporting to advertise sex acts and agreed to meet at a hotel on Meadow Avenue. The defendant allegedly agreed to exchange methamphetamine for sex acts.
According to investigators, officers witnessed the defendant approach the hotel and text the undercover officer to inform him of his arrival. The officers report that the defendant admitted to arriving at the hotel to meet a woman for sex and that he planned to provide her methamphetamine in exchange. Apparently, the defendant also informed the officers he had drugs in his car and that he “gifts” people methamphetamine every other day. A search of the defendant’s vehicle revealed approximately five grams of crystal methamphetamine.
Bail was set at $20,000 cash. The defendant was housed in Lackawanna County Prison until he posted bail on January 27. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 27, 2025.
In a similar incident, Scranton police charged Eric Storrs on January 20 after he also attempted to exchange methamphetamine for sex acts. As a result, he is charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, patronizing a prostitute, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The facts of this case are strikingly similar to the case above. The defendant allegedly contacted an undercover officer advertising sex acts on a website facilitating prostitution. On January 20, the defendant arrived at the meeting location and texted the undercover officer, providing a photo of himself. According to the officers, once the individual approached the meeting spot, officers arrested him, and he subsequently admitted his intent to exchange methamphetamine for sexual services.
After searching the individual’s vehicle, officers reported finding two grams of crystal methamphetamine, three and a half grams of marijuana, and two grams of THC wax. Storrs is also at Lackawanna County Prison with bail set at $25,000 bail, which he is unable to post. His preliminary hearing was scheduled for January 30.
The CSE Institute commends the Lackawanna County’s concerted efforts to reduce commercial sexual exploitation in our Commonwealth by targeting the driving force of the sex trade: the demand. After all, it is the demand that fuels the market for commercial sex. By making proactive efforts to target those that seek to exploit individuals by buying sex, law enforcement reduces commercial sexual exploitation in our communities. Rather than adhering to antiquated policing methods that criminalize people in prostitution, or the supply, targeting sex buyers, or the demand comports with the basic economic theory that supply and distribution follow demand, and therefore aids in eliminating the commercial sex trade in a more effective and less harmful way.
Here, both men are charged with patronizing a prostitute, which is appropriate as they both planned to engage in a sex act with another individual with reckless disregard for whether the women they believed they were purchasing were victims of human trafficking.
While we commend the targeting of sex buyers, we are disappointed in Lackawanna County’s decision not to take full advantage of the law and charge these two individuals under Pennsylvania’s human trafficking statute in addition to the other offenses charged.
Under Pennsylvania law, a person is guilty of sex trafficking if they recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, advertise, maintain, patronize, or solicit a person for a commercial sex act. A commercial sex act is defined as “a sex act for which anything of value is given to or received by a person.” Drugs are a thing of value, especially to a vulnerable person with a substance dependency.
Moreover, attempting to target an individual’s vulnerabilities by appealing to their addiction, thus further victimizing them, is a particularly appalling method of exploitation and should be recognized as such in a court of law.
Addiction and trafficking are inherently interrelated with the trauma victims experience throughout their exploitation. Whether victims had prior trauma to being exploited or developed trauma due to their exploitation, drugs and alcohol often become a coping mechanism used to numb the pain of abuse. This cycle of abuse and addiction allows traffickers to maintain control over their victims, while also giving the sex buyers the tool to exploit this addiction by purchasing the victim with drugs.
Here, both men allegedly admitted to planning to exchange methamphetamine, something of value, for sex, satisfying the requirements of the sex trafficking statute. Therefore, both defendants should be charged as both sex buyers and traffickers, making full use of Pennsylvania’s laws as the legislature intended.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates as they become available.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.