Sex, Drugs and Prosecution

By Colbert I. King
Saturday, May 5, 2007

This week's commemoration of Law Day provides a moment to observe the application of justice in the nation's capital, particularly the enforcement of laws governing illegal drug activity and the practice of "the world's oldest profession": prostitution. Attention should be given to the demand side of the equation -- i.e., the people who buy drugs and the men who buy women's bodies for sex.

Let's say it up front: The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who is responsible for prosecuting all federal crimes and all serious local crimes, is no slacker when it comes to illegal drugs. In 2000 alone, more than 5,700 people were arrested in the District for drug possession.

A few drug possession prosecutions really stand out.

For example, there's the case of the 27-year-old quadriplegic who used a chin-operated wheelchair and who, in 2004, as a first-time offender, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for marijuana possession. He died on the fifth day of his incarceration because of a lack of appropriate medical treatment.

There's the D.C. government agency director who was charged in 1994 with misdemeanor crack cocaine possession. The official pleaded guilty to attempted possession in a deal with prosecutors.

The police didn't stumble on him by accident. They heard he was using another person to buy cocaine for him. Police turned the buyer into an informant and gave him three rocks of crack to give to the official the next time he wanted to buy drugs.

And everyone recalls the former mayor who was never suspected of manufacturing, selling or distributing illegal drugs. The government, however, believed he was a user and set out to prove its point by concocting an elaborate sting operation. The authorities arranged for a former girlfriend to lure the target into a D.C. hotel room, where he was captured on a surveillance camera smoking government-supplied crack cocaine. FBI and D.C. cops arrested him on the spot in a scene played over and over around the world.

Message: D.C. drug users beware.

But what about those men in our midst who regard women as a commodity to be bought and exploited?

That question is brought to mind by the case of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, a.k.a. Jeane Palfrey, a.k.a. Julia, a.k.a. Pamela Martin, who was indicted in March on federal racketeering charges in connection with a prostitution service she allegedly ran that catered to men in hotels and homes in the Washington area.

Palfrey maintains that the company she ran was "a high-end adult fantasy firm which offered legal sexual and erotic services across the spectrum of adult sexual behavior."

Be that as it may.

The government's first amended complaint, filed against Palfrey before her indictment, states that it learned "through the review of financial documents and other sources, including from interviews of some of Palfrey's male customers, and interviews of some of the females who had worked for Palfrey as prostitutes that Palfrey operated a prostitution business." The complaint also detailed her alleged methods of operation.

At issue is whether the government is going to pursue the unnamed men who buy sex acts as vigorously as it works to round up consumers of illegal drugs.

For the record, the U.S. attorney's office does prosecute prostitutes' customers arrested by the D.C. police -- approximately 550 in the past 16 months, according to one government source.

The government should have a special interest in knowing who Palfrey's alleged clients are, if, as The Post reported, they include government officials and military officers. If these men are lawbreakers, shouldn't they be brought to justice, too? One expert has said that men "who buy sex acts don't respect women, nor do they want to respect women."

There's reason to believe that many of them would benefit from being arrested and diverted to the U.S. attorney's "John School" -- a one-day, eight-hour education and awareness program for the purchasers of prostitution.

Of the 550 johns arrested, all signed up for "John School"; only one did not successfully complete the program and only two have been rearrested.

At any rate, you can bet there are a lot of District residents waiting to see if the government will hunt down and expose the men who patronized the accused D.C. madam the same way it has pursued those who patronize drug dealers.

A federal prosecutor speaking at the time of the former mayor's drug arrest said his office "fairly enforces the criminal laws without regard to the position or status of the offender." Given that we are a city of laws and that we just celebrated Law Day, let's see how the D.C. madam's johns fare.

kingc@washpost.com