Police: Woman on hooker scam called her victims 'losers'
A woman charged with luring sex-seeking men into her apartment and then robbing them, called her victims "losers" who "deserve to have their money taken," police said.
The woman, told police she went to the Memorial Library and posted an advertisement on the Web site craigslist.com offering sex for money.
She said she didn't have sex with anybody; rather, she and her boyfriend robbed the men when they showed up at her apartment, according to the report .
The woman, confessed to police during a recorded interview that she and her boyfriend, whom police also arrested, came up with the idea after watching a news report "about craigslist and prostitution," the officer wrote in his report.
"We came up with this idea where we would do the same thing, but rather than go through with the physical act or sexual act, that we would just take the money," the woman told investigators, according to a summary of the confession.
"We just figured they're ... losers anyway ... they deserve to have their money taken, because, not that they deserve it, I know that it's wrong, but if you're stupid enough to pay somebody, then you're stupid enough to get your money taken," police quoted her as saying.
She was in Lawrence District Court yesterday facing charges of sexual conduct for a fee, deriving support from prostitution, attempting to commit a crime (unarmed robbery) and conspiracy. Police arrested her after an undercover operation last Monday.
They released the woman on her own recognizance from the police station after she paid a $40 fee. She was supposed to show up in court the following day - last Tuesday - but she didn't, so a judge issued a warrant for her arrest.
The woman didn't go to court because she spent the week at a facility for people in need of mental health and substance abuse services, her attorney said in court yesterday.
She suffers from manic depression and schizophrenia, her attorney also said.
She had an "episode" after her arrest, and her mother took her to the hospital - and nobody told police where she was. She stayed there until yesterday, when her health insurance expired. she had to leave the hospital because she had no insurance, so her social worker called the police and let them know she was there. The police picked her up and brought her to court, the atty. said during an interview after the arraignment.
The assistant District Attorney asked the judge to order Madera held on $5,000 cash bail. Her lawyer argued for personal recognizance.
The judge set bail at $500 cash, and a member of her family posted it for her. The woman and another woman declined to comment outside the courthouse.
But she said plenty to police, according to the reports.
She said she and her boyfriend and co-defendant, "Benny" ran the scam on about 10 men over a course of about five months, according to the interview summary.
Benny and his brother were also arrested. Benny's brother told police he had only participated in the scheme a couple of times but knew his brother and the woman did it several times without him. He said he did it because he received a cut of the money, the police report said.
The brother said the men looking for sex were easy targets for a robbery, "because they wouldn't report it," the report said.
The woman told police the scam yielded $80 in some cases and $150 in others. She said she spent the stolen money on food and bills
Police said they learned about the scam when a victim e-mailed police on Sept. 28 and tipped them off to the situation. He told them he was robbed of more than $200, and he worried the same thing would happen to other people. Police conducted an undercover operation where they called the phone number in the craigslist.com advertisement and set up an appointment.
During the undercover operation, the officer went to the apartment last Monday. the woman took him into the bedroom, asked him if he was a police officer and offered to have sex with him, and he gave her $160. She left the room, saying she was getting a condom. Then, the brothers walked in and confronted the officer in a "threatening manner and tone of voice," the report said.
Three officers arrived for backup, and police arrested the trio. The woman told them her 13-year-old son was in the back bedroom. Police called the state Department of Social Services, who later placed the boy into custody with relatives, police said.
The lawyer, questioned the charge of deriving support from a prostitute because there was no sex taking place, and he questioned the charge of attempting to commit a crime because the brothers never demanded money from the officer.
The brothers appeared in court last week and are being held on $2,000 cash bail, according to court documents. They are due back in court on Friday. The woman is due back in court Nov. 8.
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