Seven arrested in Gary prostitution sting
By Lori Caldwell lcaldwell@post-trib.com | 648-3258 October 3, 2012 11:56AM
Updated: November 5, 2012 11:31AM
GARY — A Gary firefighter was one of seven people arrested during a prostitution sweep by the Narcotics-Vice Unit Tuesday night.
Marcus Sullivan, 37, of Merrillville, was the only “customer” apprehended as plain-clothes detectives cruised the Broadway corridor from Midtown to Glen Park in search of prostitutes.
Sullivan, a 15-year veteran of the fire department, was driving a city-owned utility truck when detectives saw him stop at 17th Avenue and Delaware Street about 9 p.m. Police watched as the driver spoke to a woman standing on the curb.
The woman joined the driver and police then followed the car through Midtown streets, to an ATM at 5th Avenue and Adams Street, then back to Midtown, where police stopped the truck at 20th and Virginia.
The woman, identified as Diondria Brown, 21, was arrested and charged with prostitution. She told police she asked Sullivan for $20 for oral sex.
He was charged with patronizing a prostitute. Sullivan bonded out of jail a few hours after he was arrested.
Brown and five others, including two men posing as women, appeared in Gary City Court Wednesday. The defendants who pleaded not guilty are all set for trial on Dec. 5 and were being held on $750 bail.
All six were tested for drugs and most showed cocaine in their systems, Judge Deidre Monroe observed.
The judge referred all six to the Aliveness Project for an HIV evaluation.
In addition to Brown, others arrested were:
Denise Crouthers, 27, of 1132 Van Buren St., who was standing outside the Budget Motel at 23rd Avenue and Broadway.
“I was walking back from the gas station,” Crouthers said. “A man in a gold car stopped and said how much for a lick? I said OK,” Crouthers told Monroe. The arrest report states she offered the undercover detective for “$20 for two hours” or “$40 for half-and-half,” which the police report states was intercourse and oral sex.
Richard Howard, 42, of 3739 Deodar St., East Chicago, arrested outside at 23rd Avenue and Broadway after getting in the detective’s car and agreeing to $20 for oral sex.
Monica Moore, 51, of 3330 Pierce St., who was arrested in the 4000 block of Madison Street.
After learning Moore’s age, Monroe said, “You know you can’t retire on selling?”
James Myers, 40, of 130 E. 13th Ave., seen flagging down cars at 23rd Avenue and Broadway and seeking $20 for oral sex.
Myers admitted he was soliciting. “There was no money exchanged, but that’s what I was doing,” he said. Monroe sent him for a drug court evaluation.
Darsha Robinson, 21, of 1158 Jennings St., who told the undercover officer “$60 gets you some,” the arrest report states.
“I was at the back of my friend’s house and the guy pulled up on me,” she said.
