A self-described "former John" who says he is "not an attractive man" and only has sex with prostitutes put up a blog post about being arrested in a prostitution sting in Northern Virginia.
He says in the post that his story of being arrested in Arlington is "a warning to men in the DC metro area because I don't want them making the same mistakes I did."
Here's an excerpt:
I was leaving the hotel where I had just met my latest "friend" and was trying to justify the cost in my mind as I walked down a busy street bustling with nightlife. I was oblivious to my surroundings and I never saw my judge, jury and executioners coming. They appeared out of nowhere. The next thing I felt was the coldness of the glass window as I was forced up against it and then the tightness of the handcuffs as they were snapped into place on my wrists. It was open season on Mr. John. I was visible to everyone. Had anyone I knew seen me I don't know what I would've done afterwards to myself. I thought to myself that I rightfully deserved my fate and I am readily willing to admit it.
The former John goes on to say that a lecture from an arresting officer "really wakes you up to the reality" of sex with prostitutes -- convincing him that sex for money brings with it disease, robbery and "the physical danger that these women are putting themselves into":
So I appreciate what the police are doing and I know that I was wrong. All I'm saying is I'll never do it again--not so long as I'm in a place where it's illegal. The pain I've put myself through is not worth it. Now every time I'm walking and hear a car screech I flinch thinking it's a cop coming for me.
The author of the post recently contacted the blog ARLnow in order to spread his message. ARLnow wrote about the post on Monday:
The man wishes to remain anonymous and will not say where he was arrested, but confirmed it was during one of the recent prostitution busts taking place throughout Arlington.
“I thought you’d be interested in learning what’s it is like from the side of the john being arrested in Arlington,” he told ARLnow.com. “I hope I also give you some insight into why some people do this sort of thing. I figure since they make it a very public and embarrassing crime I might as well roll with it and own it.”
Some ARLnow commenters are sympathetic:
JohnB: July 30th, 2012 3:53 pm
A sad example of how misguided laws make a criminal out of this lonely guy and create a market for the exploitation of the service provider.
Others are skeptical:
Don:
July 30th, 2012 4:00 pm
This smells like a disinformation campaign to me – local law enforcement looking to put the fear of arrest into people. Either that or this otherwise very articulate person has never seen a single cop show and doesn’t know to ask for a lawyer. Instead he spills his guts and confesses to cops who had no probable cause to detain him?
I don’t buy it.
We're reached out to the former John, asking him to respond to the skepticism. He has to tell us if he's a cop, right?
It appears the post has been live for more than two weeks on Reddit; here it is again on Backpage (site is NSFW).