Craigslist prostitution sting nets 4 arrests

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Columbus prostitution sting that started with a Craigslist ad ended with three metro Atlanta women and a 15-year-old Atlanta girl being arrested.

The women pleaded not guilty Monday in Recorder's Court, and their cases were bound over to Superior Court, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported.

The newspaper gave this account:

Columbus Police Special Agent Dean Spata said in court that police found a number for the women on Craigslist. When an officer called posing as a client, he was told he could "come over right now" to a Days Inn motel room. Sgt. William Gasaway went to the room around 2:20 p.m. Saturday, wearing a recording device.

One of the women searched him, but didn't find the device.

Gasaway said he was told he could pick any of the women and that sex would cost $160 for an hour, $120 for half an hour. He chose one for $160 and then was offered another for an additional $40. After the money was exchanged, the four were arrested.

Police found explicit photos of the 15-year-old on an escort Web site.

They charged Tammy Baughman, 26, and Brittnay Davis, 20, both of Atlanta, with prostitution, child molestation and enticing a child for an indecent purpose. Baughman also was charged with pimping.

Cassandra Geotcha, 20, of Douglasville, was charged with child molestation, enticing a child for an indecent purpose, and marijuana possession.

Gasaway told the Ledger-Enquirer that prostitutes come to Columbus for the weekend and use all kinds of social networking to attract customers. He was surprised one of the defendants, who claimed she was 21, was actually 15.

"I've never had one that young," he told the newspaper. "She could have passed for 18."

The girl ran away from a group home in LaGrange last December, he added.