Sandpoint hookers part 1

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Suspects arrested in sting operation

SANDPOINT -- Three people were arrested Thursday for allegedly selling sex through craigslist, a free online community which connects people with jobs, apartments, vehicles and other services.

Lavelle Necoy Baudin, 23, Randi Jo Friss , 24, and Selene Ann Mende, 29, were arrested during a sting operation conducted at a Sandpoint motel on Thursday night, police Chief Mark Lockwood said.

"It's probably the first prostitution arrest in Sandpoint since the second world war," he said.

The man and two women are charged with participating in a joint venture to accept prostitution earnings, a felony offense. The three made initial court appearances Friday via video feed from the Bonner County Jail.

Judge Debra Heise set each suspect's bail at $25,000 and appointed public defenders to represent them. Hearings to determine if there is enough evidence to try the three are pending.

If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined as much as $50,000, according to Idaho law.

Lockwood said Baudin and Mende apparently share an apartment in Sandpoint, while Friss lives in the Priest River area. Court records indicate the two women -- Mende and Friss -- are coworkers at a retail store.

The arrests capped an investigation which spanned six to eight weeks, Lockwood said.

"They were advertising on the Internet," Lockwood said, referring to the craigslist classified ad entry the three used.

Lockwood said a sting operation was set up in which an undercover officer posed as a john. Baudin delivered Friss and Mende to the motel, where prices were set and $350 was exchanged.

The three were then promptly arrested without incident.

Lockwood and Bonner County Prosecutor Phil Robinson said the sting was designed and conducted in a manner meant to deprive the three suspects of a potential entrapment defense.

"We spent a lot of time and energy on it," Lockwood said. "We believe our investigation went right down the center."

Robinson, who reviewed an audio tape of the sting, said there were admissions that the suspects had previous customers. There were also admissions regarding the money.

"I know there have been some admissions about how they were to split up the money, which is one of the crucial elements to our charge," said Robinson, who has been in Bonner County since 1977 and never prosecuted a prostitution-related offense here.

A search of craigslist on Friday showed only one entry for "erotic" services in Sandpoint. Posted on July 6, the entry advertised "2 erotic entertainers" who were available for "discreet outcall encounters" at the rate of "200 roses each or $350 for both."

Contained in the posting were four images of two scantily clad women in a variety of sexually suggestive poses.

Lockwood said the case is particularly unnerving because of the criminal elements which travel the same orbit as those involved in prostitution, including sexual offenders.

"There's a lot of wonderful things the Web brings us, but we don't always see the dark side of it," Lockwood said.