A Kettering woman on Friday was found guilty by a jury of promoting prostitution under a recently revised Ohio law that could lead to her and others in the state being labeled sex offenders.
The law change stripped the language about transportation for sex for hire needing to be across state or county lines.
Aimee Hart, 41, will be sentenced Nov. 25 in Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Gregory Singer’s courtroom. Hart could face a sentence of up to nine to 36 months in prison, a fine of up to $10,000 and sex offender registration.
On Jan. 29, Hart drove her friend Tiffany Isaacs from Englewood to a Dayton townhome where police detectives had set up a prostitution sting. Isaacs was arrested on and pleaded to a drug possession charge and misdemeanor solicitation.
Ohio Rep. Teresa Fedor’s “End Demand Act” to crack down on human trafficking became law in June, though some provisions — including taking out language about transportation needing to be across county or state lines to be illegal — were tucked into the September 2013 budget bill. It was repeated in Fedor’s legislation, which unanimously passed both houses of the Ohio legislature.
“We amended provisions in the budget bill (H.B. 59) because we thought we could, and it wasn’t a problem, so we went ahead because it had to do with some law enforcement issues,” said Fedor,D-Toledo. “When the bill came through the Senate, what they did was they added those provisions back in (H.B.) 130 just in case there was a challenge with single subject.” Ohio law says that legislation should only deal with one main issue.
Neither Fedor nor her office commented on the intent of a law that could potentially lead to prosecution and sex offender status for anyone — trafficker, friend, john or otherwise — who knowingly transports a person for sex for hire.
“It’s something that we can discuss at the (Ohio) Attorney General’s commission,” said Claire Childers, Fedor’s legislative aide. “ It happens with legislation. You have to see how it’s going to work out and how it is applied in real-life situations.”
Hart and Isaacs testified during the two-day trial that both were prostitutes and drug users who had partied together for a couple days. Isaacs testified that she set up her own backpage.com ad and communicated a deal with an undercover officer. Isaacs also said she called Hart to ask for a condom when she didn’t remember to bring one.
“(Isaacs is) just stating that the defendant drove her to that location, transported her to have sex with that john,” prosecutor Franklin Gehres said during closing arguments. “That is exactly what the defendant is charged with.”
Isaacs testified that she was not forced by Hart to complete the “date” and that Hart would not have profited from it, only that they probably would have done more drugs together if Isaacs had obtained more money. Hart testified she didn’t know why Isaacs wanted a ride and that she didn’t ask.
“The statute is ‘knowingly,’ ” defense attorney Susan Souther told the jury. “What she knows after (getting there) is different than what she knew going there.”
Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Greg Flannagan said the promoting prostitution law has only been prosecuted one other time since the legislative change. But in the indictment in that case, Steven Prater was listed as having transported a person across county or state lines in order to facilitate sex for hire.