Prostitution

Police and federal agents arrested 10 people in Baltimore this week on charges that they ran a prostitution ring and forced women to travel to Texas for sex, according to law enforcement authorities and an indictment. Few details of the case were publicly released. The suspects were arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and ordered detained. Prosecutors in El Paso, Texas, said they would be transferred to that state for prosecution. A statement from the U.S. attorney's office in the western district of Texas identifies the suspected ringleader as Alarcon Allen Wiggins, 43, who has addresses in the past few years that include Pulaski Highway in Baltimore and Hampstead in Carroll County.

Now that the “Sunny” writers don't have to improvise around Dee Reynolds' baby bump this season, “Sunny” fans may find themselves wondering, “Why is Mac the fat one now?” Maybe it's because Mac (Rob McElhenney) is carrying around a trash bag full of chimichangas. (To picture his new look, see Roger Clarvin - Will Ferrell's character in the Hot Tub Lovers skit on “SNL.”) Or maybe it's because the members of the gang have now reached their “Second Acts.” Dennis (Glenn Howerton)

A New Jersey man was arrested Thursday in Glen Burnie on charges of human trafficking and prostitution, police said. Uzodimma Nnamdi Oguh, 32, transported women along the East Coast to work as prostitutes, Maryland State Police said in a statement Friday. Police said they searched a Baltimore hotel where they said Oguh was running the business locally. Oguh has been charged with six counts of human trafficking, three counts of prostitution, one count of motor vehicle theft and other related criminal charges, police said.

Twelve men have been charged with soliciting sex from undercover female officers in exchange for money along the U.S. 1 corridor in Laurel, Howard County police said Tuesday. Thursday's arrests marked the third county police sting operation this year. Police have continued to target the area after receiving tips from residents. Officers previously arrested a total of 17 men. Last year, police made 76 arrests. The following suspects were charged with solicitation of prostitution Thursday: • Saul Aragon-Perez, 34, of Laurel • Jeffrey E. Carter, 52, of Alexandria, Va. • David James Loyd, 46, of Laurel • Adelmo Marchorro-Vanes, 32, of Randallstown • Armando Martinez, 46, of Silver Spring • Dijohn Verandyn McGruder, 49, of Edgewater • Ricardo Melhado, 31, of Glen Burnie • Lawrence Obi Ngashu, 35, of Montgomery Village • Earl Warren Richards, 50, of Capitol Heights • William Harald Riley Sr., 44, of Laurel • Juan Hector Saco, 43, of Columbia • Manuel Sazo-Zepede, 27, of Columbia Residents are asked to call 410-313-STOP with tips.

Human trafficking happens because prostitution is illegal ("House of ill-repute," July 29 ). Prostitution is illegal only because the majority of people don't like it. Making something a crime forces it underground which is what enables abuse to take place. What happens between two consenting adults should not be the business of anyone if no one is harmed. Wendel Dean Renner

There was nothing unusual about the faded yellow house on Belair Road. Its inhabitants mostly kept to themselves and were rarely seen outdoors. Only after federal and state investigators raided the site in May did neighbors learn that the building, which billed itself as an Asian massage parlor, actually served as a front for what authorities say was a sex-trafficking ring that forced women to have sex with as many as 15 to 20 men a day. ...

From the street the faded, yellow house on Belair Road looks unassuming. Three large picture windows overlook a community recreation center and an elementary school. It's around the corner from a community baseball diamond. On one recent visit, a small American flag lay discarded on the front lawn, along with a few scattered cigarette butts. A metal pipe protrudes above a side door. Before the police raided this house, prosecutors said the pipe held a surveillance camera placed there by the operators that recorded the number of men who passed through the entrance, and helped monitor the women working inside.

Anne Arundel County Police arrested four suspects — at least one of whom is from Laurel — during a prostitution sting conducted near a Maryland City hotel June 24. The sting, which involved undercover officers posing as prostitutes, was organized in response to citizen complaints of prostitution in the area, police said. The Laurel suspect arrested was 22-year-old Dominique Akeem Hayes, of Sycamore Ridge Road, in Russett. The other three suspects arrested were a 51-year-old man from Columbia; a 46-year-old man from Bowie; and 30-year-old Carlos Aquirre Gomez, who was last known to be staying at the Garden Inn, 3400 Laurel Fort Meade Road.

Howard County Police have arrested nine men accused of soliciting prostitution in the Route 1 corridor in Laurel. The following men were charged Friday with solicitation of prostitution after they approached female officers working undercover: • Billy O. Almadovar, 28, of Germantown • Tony E. Betanga, 37, of Elkridge • Mark D. Brooks, 47, of Columbia • Robert Johnston, 49, of Elkridge • Manuel C. Martinez-Bonilla, 34,...