DRUGS DRIVE LAFAYETTE SEX TRADE

LAFAYETTE - Two of the 10 women picked up on prostitution charges two weeks
ago near Four Corners were arrested in 1996 - the same area in a nearly
identical undercover operation.

Their arrests demonstrate the persistent nature of street-level
prostitution in Lafayette - a problem largely driven by drug addiction,
according to police officers, prosecutors and social workers. Four Corners
is one of a handful of areas in Lafayette where two groups with strong
desires meet to deal - addicts who need money for drugs and men who want sex.

"Most of these females are hooked on drugs," said Capt. George Alfred,
supervisor of the Police Department's ACTION Unit. "That's their way to
feed their habit.

"It creates all kinds of problems. A lot of these girls have STDs (sexually
transmitted diseases). And a lot of these men picked up in the last
operation were married.

They bring home these diseases to their wives or girlfriends."

Police officers say the key to the problem is putting prostitutes into drug
treatment so they don't feel forced to sell their bodies.

Police keep applying the pressure to areas known for prostitution. It won't
solve the problem, they say, but it can create obstacles for the sex trade.

Prostitution, drugs

work together

If 10 women are receiving substance abuse treatment at Acadiana Recovery
Center, at least five will have prostituted themselves for powder-form or
crack cocaine, said Todd Dugas, service coordinator.

"Women do not turn to prostitution because they want to be a prostitute,"
said Valerie Keller, director of Acadiana Outreach Center. "They're trapped
in a lifestyle of substance abuse, often faced with hopelessness. And they
feel there are no other options."

Prosecutor Floyd Johnson works closely with the ACTION Unit, the team that
normally conducts undercover prostitution stings.

He said that of the most renowned prostitutes - the ones on a list of about
17 repeat offenders - 95 percent have substance abuse problems.

As the drug problems lead to prostitution, prostitution can lead to more
problems

"Years ago, we had several prostitutes killed," Alfred said. "You never
know who you are picking up. Most of these girls are jumping in a car, and
don't know who they are getting in a car with."

Alfred spoke about a prostitute arrested in the recent sting operation. She
was pregnant.

"She was on drugs," Alfred said. "Probably, the baby will be born addicted
to drugs."

Drug Treatment Is The Key

Often, Johnson said, the goal of prostitution stings is less to punish than
to use criminal charges as leverage to force prostitutes into treatment.

"Some are very open to treatment," he said. "Others are not open to
treatment until you arrest them on felony charges, often drug charges. They
are usually a lot more cooperative when they face the possibility of hard
time."

Johnson said he knows of four former prostitutes who have completed drug
court - a judge-monitored recovery program that offers drug offenders the
treatment instead of punishment - and have gone on to lead healthy lives.

But for the ones who return to the streets, and the men who go looking for
them, the tack is to keep conducting sting operations in an effort to
disrupt the activity. Recent efforts have focused on sections of Cameron
and Ann streets and at Helen and Mary streets, Johnson said.

Prostitutes are also in the city's downtown nightclubs, said Claude Martin,
director of Acadiana CARES, an HIV and AIDS outreach organization. And the
parish towns and cities outside Lafayette are grappling with the problem.

Carencro Police Timmy Duhon said his officers arrested women on
prostitution charges three times in the last two years at a business on
Interstate 49 that has been called, at various times, the Old Tokyo Spa,
The Oriental Modeling Studio and Four Season Modeling Studio.

Duhon said the business remains closed but has been allowed to re-open
after arrests in the past when a different person applied for an occupation
license.

But the most well-known area in the parish is the Four Corners area near
the intersection of Cameron Street and University Avenue.

Stings have been successful in curbing prostitution there, Johnson said,
but the illegal trade has a strong foothold.

"It's kind of like the undeclared red light district," he said. "It has
been for years."

Johnson said businesses in the area have cleaned up, and residents are
working with police to stamp out the problem. But the reputation remains.

"People go there looking for prostitutes, and prostitutes go where the
demand is," he said.

Lou Velta Simmons, president of the neighborhood group La Place de Creole,
which represents the Four Corners area, said police have done a good job in
recent years keeping prostitution in check.

"It happens in our neighborhood every now and then," she said. "Four
Corners is known for prostitution. They've been checking our neighborhood."

But "we still have a problem with drugs," she said.