Beyond DC

18 Arrested In D.C. Sex Sting Don’t Make “To Catch A Predator”

Posted by Amanda Hess on Aug. 13, 2009, at 10:33 am

According to the Maryland Gazette, “at least” 18 men have been arrested through the state’s undercover sex operation this year. The operation follows the typical “To Catch A Predator” model: “The men contacted Montgomery County Police officers posing as a 16-year-old high school sophomore on Craigslist.com, negotiated how much they would pay for specific sexual services and set up meetings in the Gaithersburg area, where they were arrested upon arrival.”

All this sex sting lacked was Chris Hansen hiding in a closet—who apparently has quite a following among underage prostitution enthusiasts!

Several men asked the girl if she was working for police, according to the documents, and a few said that they did not want to end up on Dateline’s “To Catch A Predator” television series.

They didn’t end up on “To Catch a Predator.” But the Gazette has stepped in to assume Hansen’s role of disseminating all the johns’ life-ruining details to the public. No cookies and lemonade, either:

* “Montgomery County firefighter Wayne A. Mothershead, 44, of Taneytown responded to the ad using his work e-mail and arranged to meet for sex in his truck outside the Bohrer Park Activity Center in Gaithersburg on July 20, according to the documents.”

* Mothershead’s attorney chimed in with the classic excuse: “attorney Rebecca Nitkin add[ed] that the girl in the photographs viewed by the men appeared older than 16.”

* “A Wheaton man, who was instructed to meet the girl near Gaithersburg High School, admitted to having a semiautomatic handgun in his trunk and was also charged with carrying a deadly weapon on school property and transporting a handgun, according to the documents.”

* “Benjamin R. Cary, a personal trainer at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in Rockville for 10 years, was arrested March 25, according to the documents. He told police he was ‘trying to stop a girl from doing something bad’ but later said ‘I will do whatever you want me to do, pay a fine go to class … just don’t tell my wife,’ according to the documents.”

* “Barry M. Lebowitz, a married optometrist at Potomac Eye Care in Gaithersburg, was charged with soliciting a minor on April 9, according to the documents. When the girl said she was too young to rent a hotel room, Lebowitz, 46, wrote, ‘this might get expensive … any discount if i get hotel?,’ according to the documents.”