Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is well known for his faith-based campaign against erotic entertainment.  His morality police strike again, this time with a promise to go after the world’s second largest classified ad website, Backpage.com.  The threats of prosecution come on the heels of a four day sting operation resulting in the arrest of almost 100 people, with charges ranging from offering to commit lewdness to aiding and abetting prostitution, deriving proceeds from prostitution, escape, traffic offenses, possession of illegal drugs, battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.  According to deputies, the people arrested responded to advertisements posted by undercover detectives posing as prostitutes or were prostitutes who posted ads and came to the detectives’ location to offer services.  Judd subsequently held a press conference stating that he now has permission from the State Attorney’s Office to launch a full criminal investigation into Backpage and its operators for facilitating organized prostitution and human trafficking, and plans to begin doing so.

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