Bismarck News

‘Fracking’ can mean more than oil in the Bakken

November 25, 2012

CNN ran a story last year saying strippers were making $3,000 a night in tips in western North Dakota. Watford City Police Chief Slade Herfindahl said after the story ran, “We were overrun with women from across the country looking to make a buck, and they weren’t just interested in dancing.”

No one really remembers the last prostitution arrest in McKenzie County before the current oil boom. But Herfindahl said his department arrested a dozen women from across the U.S. last year and will arrest at least as many this year.

These advertisements were pulled directly from Backpage.com, a website offering risque services.

“These are independents from out-of-state, here to make money,” he said.

The “world’s oldest profession” was a booming business in the late 1800’s and apparently is once again becoming a major industry on the Plains of Dakota. This time, the game of love is played on the Internet.

Turn on the laptop, and you can make arrangements for an escort, who promises to ring more than your doorbell within a few minutes.

During territorial days, there were “pillow princesses” plying the trade across the Great Plains. In Bismarck, “Little Casino” ran a red-light home near the site of the present-day Bismarck Tribune. In Dickinson, the local newspaper ran out of the front of large tent; ladies of the evening plied their trade out the back-flap.

The business lasted much longer in other areas. “Soiled doves” were a part of Minot’s economy until the early 60s; Deadwood and Miles City until the 80s. The trade has always been practiced in Billings.

Now the ladies of the night have joined the “fracking” boom, and they’ve gone high tech. There are hundreds of computer ads offering escort services, nude body rubs and other risqué services in Fargo, Grand Forks, Watford City, Williston, Minot and Bismarck.

Many of the ads ran on a website called Craigs List until the company was convinced to stop the practice following the murder of young ladies who were advertising their services on the site. The new advertiser of choice appears to be a website called Backpage.com which carries ads for sexual services for cities and states across the country.

Type “Backpage North Dakota” into Google (don’t do this if you’re easily offended or embarrassed) and more than 80 escort offers flash on the screen. They range in age from 18 to 40. Most list prices, phone numbers and or email addresses.

Many of the phone numbers appear to have Minneapolis/St. Paul prefixes, and most of the ads also feature explicit photos and descriptions of activities that would make most members of the Ladies Aide feint.

But Herfindahl said the phone numbers and photos can be deceiving.

“Many of the girls use two or three different phone numbers and the pictures are fake,” he said. “They’re here from Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Washington and California.”

Herfindahl said drugs are usually involved in prostitution arrests.

“We haven’t encountered any human trafficking yet but we’re watching for it,” he said. “One young lady arrested was wanted in connection with a murder in another state, another for drug trafficking. Our society is the victim here.”

Backpage.com is owned by Village Voice Media of New York City. Village Voice Media publishes the Village Voice, an alternative newspaper. One of the owners of Village Voice Media turned out to be the Wall Street banking firm Goldman Sacks. Goldman Sacks, after being exposed by the New York Times, sold its 16 percent stake in America’s leading site for prostitution ads.

Nevertheless, Backpage.com continues on and the phones are ringing.

There have been numerous cases of underage women who have been forced or coerced into the trade and their services advertised and sold on Backpage. One such case happened last winter in North Dakota when a school guidance counselor from Grand Forks, using a Backpage internet ad, had a sexual liason with a 17-year-old-girl, who was brought to his home.

That former guidance counselor has been charged with a Class B misdemeanor. Three others, two men and a young lady, have been charged with human trafficking involving a minor. That’s a Class AA felony with a potential sentence of life in prison.

The investigation continues into the incidents in Fargo and Grand Forks. Police say other prominent men were customers of the human-trafficking ring and there might be additional charges.

No charges were filed against the 17-year-old girl. Authorities say she is the victim in the case.

North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) officials refused to comment about the internet solicitations in North Dakota. A spokeswoman said, “We don’t comment on prior or ongoing investigations.”

Herfindahl said the illicit activity in the oil patch isn’t surprising considering there are hundreds of young men and lots money to be made.

Watch for this to develop into a major story in the months to come.

-Darrell Dorgan is a freelance writer for the Great Plains Examiner.