Diane Carmine Cornwell, 34, and Jesse Woodrow Cornwell III, 32, had posted an ad
on Craigslist that described the woman as pregnant, said Cpl. Sara Schriver, a
police spokeswoman. An undercover officer arrested the couple Monday after
Jesse Cornwell welcomed him into their Pasadena home.
The arrests stemmed from one of two prostitution stings set up by the
department's vice unit that day.
Craigslist and other online classified sites have become a popular marketplace
for sex workers and their clients; fees are established after the two parties
make contact.
Craigslist's Baltimore-area listings yesterday showed hundreds of entries
offering sex, including 14 from men specifically seeking pregnant women.
Vice unit police, Schriver said, have scoured the free Web site for two years
to curb online prostitution in the county.
"They continually check Internet sites and see how far they can get with each
ad," she said. "A lot of times, [they] try to make the appointment, and people
get scared or they don't show up or it's false altogether, [only] kids playing
around."
Officers on Monday also arrested Shannon Marine Burney, 30, of Columbia, S.C.,
at the Knights Inn in Laurel. She and an undercover detective agreed he would
pay her $250 for sex. Burney had also used Craigslist to set up appointments,
police said.
Solicitations posted by Burney and the Cornwells have since been removed from
Craigslist.
Last summer, county police arrested four out-of-town women suspected of
prostitution. Like Burney, they used Craigs- list to arrange Baltimore-area
hotel meetings with clients.
The Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport area is known
as a convenient hub for sex workers who live in other states, Schriver said.
The Cornwells were each charged with prostitution and two related charges, and
Burney was charged with prostitition and a related charge. If convicted, they
could be sentenced to a year in jail and a $500 fine.
