Police Arrest Six In Connection With Prostitution Ring
http://www.wral.com/news/8071534/detail.html
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Raleigh police arrested six people Wednesday in connection with a house of prostitution, which was located next door to a church.
One day later, though, potential customers are still coming to the door.
"No area wants it, no area needs it," said the church's pastor, Joseph Rogers.
Church members of Greater Philadelphia Baptist Church, along with neighbors, alerted authorities about their concerns that something illegal was going on inside the house.
Police arrested two women for prostitution, Doris Hernandez Lopez, 26, of Charlotte; and Georgina Arvizu Pena, 30. They also arrested three men for soliciting prostitution: Reynaldo Lopez Perez, 45, Jorge Salas Ramos, 24, and Israel Ayala De Jesus, 34.
Raul Murillo-Urbina was arrested for running the prostitution ring. He admitted to WRAL that he ran the brothel and said that now that he's been arrested, he will simply move the brothel somewhere else.
"I don't know that it goes away, but we have to continue enforcement activities so that we disrupt it, and the more we disrupt it, the better chance we have of controlling or eradicating it," said Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby.
Some people say the women in many cases are cornered into prostitution, especially those that come to the United States from other countries and can't find jobs that pay a living wage.
"This is not something we want to have people forced into. There's a lot of human misery that goes along with this," Willoughby said.
But for the church and the surrounding community, the arrests signal an end to their misery and a return to a peaceful, quiet community.
"We are thrilled that it's resolved and we don't have to deal with it. And I'm hoping that no one else will have to also," said Rogers.
Police allege home is brothel
http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/419390.html
Published: Mar 18, 2006 12:30 AM
Modified: Mar 18, 2006 03:32 AM
Police allege home is brothel
Six are arrested in Raleigh raid
Six people were arrested this week when police officers raided a suspected brothel in a quiet southwest Raleigh neighborhood.
Officers shut down the operation Wednesday at 2006 Batts St., a beige one-story house on a private dirt road near the Greater Philadelphia Baptist Church on Carolina Pines Avenue.
No one was at the Batts Street home Friday afternoon, and empty beer bottles littered the ground.
The arrested include Raul Humberto Murillo-Urbina, 34, who police think ran the sex-selling business; Georgina Arvizu-Pena, 30, of Durham; and Doris Hernandez Lopez, 26, of Charlotte. Police think the two women were prostitutes who had been working at the house for the past week, said Jim Sughrue, spokesman for the Raleigh Police Department.
Also arrested were three men who police think wanted to hire the prostitutes. Those men were Reynaldo Lopez Perez, 45, Jorge Salas Ramos, 24, and Israel Ayala de Jesus, 34, all of Raleigh.
Neighbors called police after noticing cars going to the home for short periods of time, according to a search warrant made public Friday. Police officers grabbed bags of trash that had been left out for pickup and found 75 to 100 condom wrappers, according to court documents.
When police raided the home Wednesday, they arrested the six and seized $1,749, 132 unused condoms and documents with the names and phone numbers of customers. Police think the prostitution had been going on for less than two months, Sughrue said.
Althoughbrothels aren't often found in Raleigh, police do think that they are operating within the city limits.
"This wasn't the first location that's been found, and it won't be the last," Sughrue said. "It's not a daily occurrence, but they are known to exist."
Staff writer Sarah Ovaska can be reached at 829-4622 or sovaska@newsobserver.com.
