A newlywed has been arrested in a prostitution sting after he left his wife sleeping to sneak off and meet a sex worker while on their honeymoon in Florida.
Paul Turovsky, a 34-year-old business manager from Fort Myers, made arrangements online to meet someone who he believed to be a prostitute and pay them for sex, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO).
Then, when his wife fell asleep in their hotel room, he allegedly slipped away to carry out the deed.
But, unbeknownst to Mr Turovsky, he had actually been speaking with an undercover detective with the HCSO human trafficking squad.
When he arrived at the Hyatt Hotel in Tampa for the meeting, Mr Turovsky was arrested and charged with soliciting another to commit prostitution.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said: “The only question here was, as a wedding guest was it too late to get the gifts that they gave returned back to them?”
The newlywed is just one of at least 360 suspects arrested by the squad since June 2021 as the department tries to crack down on human trafficking, including the trafficking of children.
Sheriff Chronister said that 176 men had been arrested in the last three months alone – most of them facing charges related to the solicitation of prostitution, sometimes with minors.
The arrests are part of a major sting first launched back in April, when investigators placed a fake ad online pretending to be from a father seeking to traffic his 14-year-old daughter for sex.
The sheriff said that the response to the ad was “pretty overwhelming”.
Similar ads were also placed online and suspects responded to them, striking up conversations with undercover detectives and arranging to meet.
“When you read the communication that these individuals wanted to do with these young boys, or they wanted to do with these young girls, it is repulsive,” he said.
As part of the sting, two teenage girls, aged 16 and 17, were rescued from the clutches of two human traffickers in Tampa.
The teenagers had gone missing from their homes in Massachusetts and were trafficked to Florida by the two men, police said.
Investigators found one of the men with one of the girls sleeping in a vehicle at a local grocery store, while the second suspect was at a nearby hotel with the second girl and another male suspect.
All three men were arrested and the missing teens taken into protective custody.
The sheriff said that the agency is now working with federal law enforcement to determine whether these men were also involved in other human trafficking cases.
Another group of 10 men were also arrested for trying to coerce children to have sex with them.
“When the opportunity arose to meet, some did not take the bait, while others got in their cars and drove, hoping to meet with a minor,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release.
“Instead, they found themselves, thankfully, face to face with our deputies, and were quickly arrested.”
In total, eight human trafficking victims have been rescued by the squad since it began its work last year, with one victim taken to rehab, another returned to her mother, and another provided a plane ticket to return to her family in another state.
The sheriff vowed that the department’s work is far from over and they will continue to track down perpetrators involved in human trafficking and soliciting prostitutes.
“We believe if we dry up the demand, there won’t be human trafficking because no one will be able to profit off a young child, a young girl or boy, or any adult because there will be no demand for it,” he said.
