News

November 7, 2009

Pa. court tosses prostitution case over police-funded sex

MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press Writer

HARRISBURG — An appeals court has ruled Pennsylvania State Police botched a prostitution investigation in which troopers gave an informant money to pay for sex four times at a massage parlor, along with a total of $180 for the man’s trouble.

The Superior Court opinion issued Thursday upheld a Lehigh County judge’s ruling that threw out prostitution charges against Sun Cha Chon in suburban Allentown on the grounds that the government had acted outrageously.

The appeals court ruling described how the man first approached state police to say he had been solicited for sex at the Shiatsu Spa. Troopers then supplied the unnamed man with government money and sent him back four times to engage in what the county judge called “a smorgasbord of sexual activity” during June and July 2006.

Lehigh County Judge Robert L. Steinberg said the man’s subsequent visits did not advance the police investigation. He was given $360 total to pay for the services that allegedly involved Chon and another woman, plus the extra $180 for his time.

“The outrageous nature is it went beyond what was necessary to prove the prostitution charge,” said Chon’s lawyer, Maureen Coggins.

The Superior Court opinion recounted how police and the informant were recorded laughing about the sexual encounters.

“We expect more from the police, and demand that they conduct their investigations and utilize their resources without resorting to such embarrassing investigative techniques,” Steinberg said in a written opinion that the appeals court cited at length.

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