WARREN - Police detectives pulled off a sting operation Thursday evening, charging four women with solicitation after officers said an undercover officer posed as someone wanting to buy sex.
The undercover officer drove around the area of Belmont Street and North Park Avenue between 7 and 10 p.m., approaching women standing on street corners, according to reports.
Those arrested and held in Trumbull County Jail before appearances Friday afternoon in Warren Municipal Court were Brita Brogdon, 41, of 961 Tod Ave. S.W., Warren; Julie Tenney, 35, of 670 Mahan Denman Road, Bristolville; Keysa Haynes, 39, of 1188 Oak Knoll Ave. S.E., Warren; and Courtney Allgood, 22, of 220 Forest Street N.E., Warren.
All four were charged with misdemeanor solicitation, and Brogdon and Haynes also face additional counts of possession of drug paraphernalia since police said they found them in a car with crack pipes.
Brogdon threw her pipe out of a car window, almost hitting an arresting officer in the head with the pipe while he was approaching them, according to Lt. Thomas Skoczylas, the narcotics/vice unit commander.
All four women pleaded not guilty to charges and were scheduled for pretrial hearings Nov. 4 before Judge Thomas Gysegem. Their bond was set at $750. They remained in jail Friday after court.
Skoczylas said the department plans similar stings in the future, some perhaps targeting ''johns'' or men attempting to pick up the women.
Mayor Michael J. O'Brien said the city plans a show of force over similar crimes in that neighborhood, whether it is undercover operations or uniform officers making calls.
''Police can make the arrest and get them off the street. What happens after that isn't up to the officers,'' O'Brien said. ''We will have an emphasis there, though.''