Iowa City police officers in cooperation with other local law agencies made a slew of arrests earlier this week using undercover officers to respond to ads either seeking or offering the services of a prostitute. Here are some of the arrests, which, with few exceptions, were all made in Coralville on April 10, according to criminal complaints released this morning. Note, prostitution by itself is an aggravated misdemeanor charge:.
Members of the University of Iowa Police, Coralville Police, and Johnson County Sheriff's Department also participated in the sting , which involved soliciting people from online ads and recording the transactions as they arrived on hidden video. Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. Stephen Schmidt , Patch Staff.
Note, prostitution by itself is an aggravated misdemeanor charge: Melody Kanosha McCullom, 21, of Waterloo is the person facing the most serious charges -- in addition to prostitution, she also has been charged with felony pimping, human trafficking, and pandering for involving her underage sister in prostituton and allegedly taking money from her after she collected the money from these acts.
She was arrested after arriving at a predetermined time and place and agreed to perform a sex act for money, according to the complaint. McCullom told police after a drawn out interrogation that she operates her business over the Internet and is able to net several thousands of dollars per week. She also allegedly told police that she involved her willing sister in this enterprise, having her do the sex acts for cilents that she was not willing to do.
Since her sister is underage the human trafficking code still applies, even though she was a willing participant. Breana Iman Levi, 20, address unknown faces charges of child endangerment and prostitution. She is accused of also bringing her three-month-old child with her and leaving her unsecured in her vehicle as she went to commit the sex act.
