At least seven more suspects have been arrested in Pulaski County on prostitution-related charges, records show.
The latest arrests were all made by the Pulaski County sheriff's office Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Five women and two men arrested overnight were listed as inmates in the Pulaski County jail later Thursday morning facing charges including prostitution and promoting prostitution.
The latest wave of arrests comes during undercover operations believed to be tied to a larger FBI investigation. Pulaski County jail records show 19 women ranging in age from 18 to 39 have been arrested so far this week on prostitution charges. Three men were also arrested in that span on prostitution-related charges.
Not all the arrest reports for the suspects arrested by the sheriff's office were available. But reports for two of the women on file at the jail indicated that undercover deputies using a "sexually explicit website" engaged in conversations "for sex" with the women and then met them in rooms at 7200 Bicentennial Road, which is a Days Inn outside North Little Rock. The two men, who face charges of promoting prostitution, drove the women to the hotel and accepted money for the rides, those arrest reports state.
On Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, 10 women were booked into the Pulaski County jail on charges of prostitution. North Little Rock police reports showed six of them and a man accused of offering a sheriff's deputy cash for a sexual act were arrested at the Quality Inn & Suites Hotel. A seventh woman was arrested at a different North Little Rock hotel.
Those arrest reports indicated undercover officers contacted the women through Backpage.com, an online classifieds site, and set up the meetings at the hotel.
A Little Rock log book of arrests showed two women were arrested Tuesday night at Little Rock hotels on charges including prostitution.
Spokesmen for the Little Rock and North Little Rock police departments said they had no details on the arrests and directed questions to the FBI. A spokesman for the Little Rock office of that agency said she could not comment on an "ongoing investigation."
