AAN Association of Alternative Newsmedia

Three Orlando Weekly Employees Arrested

By AAN Staff

october 19, 2007 02:54 pm

Orlando police arrested the paper's classified advertising director and two account executives this afternoon on charges of aiding and abetting prostitution, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The Weekly's office was also "served notice on racketeering charges for contributing to the prostitution industry," according to the Sentinel. The charges stem from a two-year operation dubbed "Operation Weekly Shame." As part of the investigation, two female agents went undercover and presented themselves as prostitutes to three Weekly account executives, according to police. Criminal defense lawyer Daniel Aaronson says the Weekly did nothing wrong by taking adult-oriented advertisements. "The papers aren't doing anything illegal," he says. "They're taking ads. If an ad uses suggestive language, the stopping of these ads threatens the First Amendment."

View full article at The Orlando Sentinel