New York man arrested for promoting prostitution in Stroudsburg hotel.

On January 11th, 2018 detectives from the Monroe County Office of the District Attorney arrested JOSEPH PAYNE, 37 of Brooklyn, New York for promoting prostitution.

Detectives, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Stroud Area Regional Police Department, located an advertisement on www.backpage.com<http://www.backpage.com> for a woman they believed was a victim of human sex trafficking. An undercover police officer responded to her advertisement and conversed with her, ultimately arranging a date at a Stroudsburg hotel.

When the woman arrived at the hotel detectives found that she wasn't alone. The person who brought her to the hotel was later identified as Joseph Payne.

Joseph Payne waited in the parking lot to make sure the woman got into the hotel, then left the area. Once she was with the undercover officer, Payne called her and asked if everything was OK, she said it was and told him to come back in an hour.

The female was taken into police custody while inside the hotel. Detectives took steps to ensure her safety and reached out to local organizations requesting assistance in placing her into a safe housing. Contact was made with Payne, who identified himself as "JOHN PATTERSON". The detectives asked him to come back to the hotel to pick up the woman he had dropped off. Officers then observed him driving on Crystal Street in East Stroudsburg at a high rate of speed and conducted a traffic stop. Payne was taken into custody without incident.

A search of the woman's cell phone indicated that Payne had been taking her photographs, obtained gift cards to pay for advertisements and has been driving her to meet dates for prostitution. Additionally, the lingerie she was wearing in her back page advertisement was found in Payne's vehicle.

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania encouraging, inducing or otherwise intentionally causing another to become or remain a prostitute is graded as a felony. Transporting an individual with the intent to promote the engaging in prostitution is a crime, graded as a misdemeanor.

Detective Kim Lippincott charged Payne with promoting prostitution (one felony and one misdemeanor), false identification to law enforcement and possessing instruments of a crime.

Payne was taken to the Monroe County Correctional Facility where he was arraigned by MDJ Brian Germano. Bail was set in the amount of $25,000 secured and he will appear before MDJ Kristina Anzini at a later date.

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