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Internet prostitution sting nabs 7
Police use woman to lure johns to a Gainesville motel
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The world’s oldest profession has joined the information age, and Hall County authorities are now catching would-be johns looking for prostitutes through the Internet instead of on street corners.

Since Tuesday, seven area men have been charged with pandering after they answered a prostitute’s ad on the Internet, went to a motel room and found themselves face-to-face with police instead of the call girl they expected to meet, authorities said.

The arrests include a pair of men who were charged at the location, an undisclosed motel in the 500 block of Dorsey Street, this afternoon, Hall County Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad commander Lt. Scott Ware said.

Ware said the sting operation "has been productive thus far."

Authorities found the Hall County woman’s computer ad about six weeks ago and were able to persuade her to cooperate with their investigation. The men seeking her services, for which she charged $100, responded via e-mail, then spoke with her by phone before going to the hotel room at a pre-arranged time, Ware said.

"They knock on the door, and the door is answered by law enforcement," Ware said.

Ware said the advent of Internet ads for prostitution was "relatively new" in Hall County.

"It’s not like the days of a person standing out on a street corner," Ware said. "The way it seems to be done now is by advertising on the computer."

So far, the following men have been charged with pandering:

Kent Douglas Martin Jr., 29, of Gainesville

Paul Sanda, 38, of Lawrenceville.

Trevor Kelley, 33, of Flowery Branch.

Mark Sevier, 54, of Lawrenceville.

Scottie Anthony, 30, of Gainesville.

William Masson Burns, 54, of Gillsville.

Edward Bruce Robinson, 44, of Atlanta.

The operation was ongoing today and authorities weren’t ruling out additional arrests.