Prostitution Crackdown on North Trail in Sarasota

Punt Gorda
Ft Myers


The Sarasota Police Department street crimes unit has been visiting motels all along the North Trail in an attempt to slow the prostitution and drug trade that has flourished there for years.

The “strip” has become a hotbed for Internet based prostitutes who are moving their “oldest profession” from the streets to the Internet, and then the motels on North 41. On any afternoon, if you drive up the trail, you can see the hookers “working it” trying to make eye contact with drivers. The park area just north of the 10th Street Publix always has a few “working girls” on the corners waving to unsuspecting drivers. I anticipate the police department will be running some prostitution stings in the near future. In the “stings” an undercover female detective will pose as a “street hooker” and you can anticipate a number of “Johns” will be arrested.

Men who get arrested for solicitation for prostitution can lose their car, pay a huge fine and suffer the embarrassment of being dragged off to jail only to post bond and hire a lawyer, all at a high cost.

The best way to avoid getting arrested in Sarasota is to not commit a crime.

If some girl is waving you over or giving you the eye, it is one of two things. It could be a real hooker, probably on drugs, probably HIV infected and God knows what else, or, it could be a cop. Either way, if you stop, and hook up, you are in for trouble. A lot the girls now have smart phones and are “working it” on the Internet. You run the risk of getting robbed if you respond to a “Craigslist Casual Encounters” or ad. With the races here in town for the Fourth of July weekend, you better believe that both the prostitutes and the cops will be hitting it hard on the North Trail.

As a Sarasota criminal defense lawyer, over the years I have defended a number of men who in a moment of weakness made the terrible mistake of trying to pick someone up along the Trail. Do not do it. It is not worth it.

The high end girls also work some of the plush hotel bars downtown. These girls hang out and are hard to distinguish them from Sarasota’s regular barracudas. If you are a single professional man, or worse yet a married man, Sarasota is a dangerous place. Looks can be deceiving and if you have had a few drinks, it is easy to fall victim to a real extortion scheme.

An unsuspecting married guy looking for a one night fling can find himself being secretly videotaped, recorded and later extorted.

Most of the time no one hears of this because the men pay dearly. As a criminal defense attorney, I have represented men who have found themselves being shaken down by women with threats of exposure. Older successful guys in Sarasota are easy pickings for unscrupulous younger gold diggers. If you are being extorted or shaken down and you need help, call me at 941 366 3506 for a confidential consultation