By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
The Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department arrested seven people Monday on prostitution-related charges along Hwy. 161 south of Jacksonville.
“We’ve had several calls from people who live out there, telling us where they were working and what they were doing,” sheriff’s department spokesman John Rehrauer explained.
“We did a saturation sweep to address the problem and we’re pretty happy with the results,“ he said.
“Working together, we can rid the area of this problem,” Sheriff Doc Holladay noted.”
Belinda Myers, 28, of 801 Cotton St. in North Little Rock was arrested in the Prothro Junction area for prostitution, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to pay a fine from the North Little Rock District Court.
Jonna Rogers, 24, 39 Lake view Road, Greers Ferry, was arrested on Hwy. 161 in the Rixie area for prostitution.
Arrested for patronizing a prostitute were Darrell Penn, 58, of 1314 Southeastern Road, Jacksonville; Kelsa Slaughter, 69, of 605 Candlewood Cove, Cabot; Cameron Phillips, 27, of 304 South J.P Wright Loop, Jacksonville, and Morris Williams, 24, of 7800 Downing Circle, North Little Rock. Williams was also arrested for contempt of court.
Laura Wilkerson, 33, of 10111 Lanehart in Little Rock was arrested for promoting prostitution and on a fugitive warrant from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida for outstanding grand theft charges.
“These folks have been in the system before,” he said. “They got court dates. We want people to understand that if the problem continues, we’ll be back,” Rehrauer said.
Jacksonville residents have not been complaining to police about prostitution on South Hwy. 161 in the city limits, Capt. Charles Jenkins said.
“We’ve made arrests down there,” Jenkins said, but they are few and far between. “We’re not getting the level of complaints that the county is getting. We have a lot of patrols that go up and down that road,” he said. “Our presence may curtail that activity.”
