JUPAMan’s Blog

–The Indy Channel

GREENWOOD, Ind. — A Greenwood couple is accused of running a scam from their home involving hundreds of men and the promise of sex.

Jose Roman and Shelly Chance were arrested on Monday after police investigated rumors that they were roughing up men looking to pay for sex, 6News’ Ben Morriston reported.

“On Monday we received a tip that she (Chance) was working through a telephone chat line to lure gentlemen into her home on Pearl Street in Greenwood for sex,” said Greenwood Police Chief Joe Pitcher.

Investigators said the couple would work as a team. First, Chance would solicit men, offering to have sex with them for $100. A man would then come to the couple’s home, where Chance would ask for the money up front. Once the man paid, Chance would turn on a pornographic movie and go to freshen up, police said.

Once Chance was out of the room, Roman would storm in and ask what the man was doing there and what he was doing with his girlfriend, intimidating them until they left, police said.

“Basically, a hustle, where they thought they were going to get sex for $100, and then the boyfriend would come in — and he’s a rather large gentleman and very intimidating in stature — and he would just scare them away and they’d keep the money,” Pitcher said.

Chance and Roman told investigators that there were hundreds of victims in the scam dating back to 2006, including at least five men in the last weekend alone.

“It’s embarrassing man, I don’t want to talk about it,” Roman told Morriston when he answered the door at the couple’s home on Wednesday.

Police said the couple used the money from the scam to buy crack cocaine. Investigators confiscated crack pipes and a quantity of the drug inside the home on Monday, Pitcher said. Dontai Ferrell, who police said was the couple’s dealer, was also arrested.

Neighbors said they are angry that the couple was running the scam so close to their homes.

“This has always been a good little neighborhood. I’ve lived in here 36 years, my mom’s lived here 36 years. We never had any problems,” said Anita Helms. “We don’t need that trash and that’s what it is, it’s trash.”

Chance, who was in the Johnson County Jail on Wednesday, was preliminarily charged with possession of cocaine, maintaining a common nuisance, prostitution, possession of marijuana and resisting law enforcement. Roman was charged with narcotics-related offenses.

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–Brooklyn Eagle

SUNSET PARK, NY ? The issue of sex shops and adult-related businesses near the Sunset Park waterfront was raised again yesterday by David Galarza of Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors.

Galarza, who is also active in zoning and housing issues in the neighborhood, organized a rally yesterday afternoon. This included a march from 39th Street and Second Avenue to a Pentecostal church on 39th Street and Third Avenue and finally to the headquarters of Community Board 7 at 43rd Street and Fourth Avenue.

The immediate cause, said Galarza, was the community board?s reported decision to grant a liquor license to Peyton?s Playpen Gentleman?s Club at 3901 Second Ave., described as a strip bar on New York Magazine?s web site.

Community board officials were unavailable for comment yesterday, but William Crowley, a spokesman for the State Liquor Authority in Albany, told the Eagle his agency hadn?t received the applications. This may mean that the application is still at the community board ? according to state law, requests for liquor licenses within the city must be heard by community boards before they?re forwarded to the agency.

In general, added Crowley, ?Requests for liquor licenses are granted unless there?s a reason not to do so.?

Although the New York Magazine web site says Peyton?s now has a beer license, Crowley told the Eagle that he had no record of the club having a license at all.

Another strip bar at the same site, the Wild Wild West, however, had its liquor license suspended several years ago. In a celebrated case in 2001, Police Officer Joseph Gray of the 72nd Precinct and several of his fellow officers went into the strip club ? which the NYPD had barred them from frequenting.

After having quite a few drinks, Gray got into his car, drove under the Gowanus Expressway on 39th Street ? and then hit, and ultimately killed, a local woman and her two children.

One of Galarza?s supporters, the Rev. Sam Cruz of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sunset Park, told the Eagle, ?I grew up in the community, and I don?t remember seeing all these sex shops. This happened after Mayor Giuliani decided to clean up Times Square, and many of the X-rated businesses came here [because zoning allowed them to do so]. I have three young daughters.

?I don?t care what you do [at home] as far as sex is concerned, but this is something else,? he said. ?We?ve seen NYPD statistics that most of the johns who pick up prostitutes under the expressway aren?t from Sunset Park.?

He linked sex-related businesses with prostitution, and also mentioned video stores that supposedly carry both X-rated and ?regular? DVDs and videos. ?You don?t see anyone going in there to get a copy of Bambi for their daughter,? he said.

He also alleged that the city concentrates such X-rated businesses in working-class neighborhoods. ?You don?t see them doing this in Bay Ridge, and they wouldn?t allow it in Park Slope,? he said.

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As reported by KOB.com out of New Mexico, 20-year-old Amanda Moya is being accused of chasing her boyfriend with a knife because she thought he was an actor in a porn flick they were watching together.

The man who was chased said that he and Moya were watching a porno at his southwest Albuquerque home at about 10:30 yesterday morning. Soon the victim was on the phone calling 911 to say that his girlfriend had a knife.

?She almost shanked me and everything. She put the (expletive) knife right under my throat,? he told a 911 operator.

The victim, who was wearing only a pair of shorts, ran from the residence while begging the 911 operator to send help.

Moya had already stabbed him in the face and bitten him on his chest according to the fleeing man.

?She already has battery charges against her. She?s not even supposed to be around me,? the victim continued during the 911 call.

The victim was finally able to flag down a deputy who was headed to the victim?s residence.

Moya was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and aggravated battery. Moya was also charged with child abuse because she abandoned her eight-month-old son alone in the home while chasing her boyfriend down the road with a knife.

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–on the web

North Dakota [North Dakota News]- Enforcement wants to know more about strippers and others in the adult entertainment business…

That’s why a bill says those individuals in sexually orientated businesses have to register with the state Tax Department.

West Fargo Police Chief Arland Rasmussen says the industry is largely a cash business where the dollars earned are seldom reported. Rasmussen says national studies show adult entertainers are involved in more criminal activity and law enforcement have a hard time tracking people down in that industry for investigation purposes…

The largest obstacle for law enforcement purposes is the lack of regulation to the industry. The service providers frequently use a stage name and do not operate from permanent addresses.”

“I’m confident that a lot of the people in this business are honorable people and this is the way they’ve chosen to make a living. But there are other business and career people who are trying to push the envelope a little bit and if we can provide additional tools to Law Enforcement to keep this on the up and up, I would think that would be real important.”

Rasmussen says a search he recently did came up with 14 adult entertainment ads in the Fargo Forum in one day’s paper.

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–on the web

[Jossip]- Playboy, the classy pornography magazine you can still find hidden in garage boxes among the 65+ set, is undertaking something extraordinary: It’s admitting they cannot survive unless it adapts.

Namely, they’re combining the staffs of their print and web units, reports P6, which also means they’re closing their New York office to house everything in Chicago. And given that the best thing going for Playboy right now is its E! television show, filmed at the Playboy Mansion, it’s only a matter of time before they shut down Chicago and bring everything to L.A. Just like the Playboy Mansion.

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