Some recent Beaufort County armed robberies target men using prostitution website, police say
Over the past few months at least five men using the same “sex for money” website have become victims of armed robberies in Beaufort County, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office release.
After offering money for sex to a woman advertised on the website, the man would either travel to meet the woman at a “makeshift brothel” or she’d travel to meet the man, the release said.
After meeting, the woman would make an excuse to leave the room and then, almost immediately, one or two armed men would enter the room and steal the man’s wallets, cash, and cellphones, according to the report.
None of the five men were injured.
At least two of these types of incidents occurred on Hilton Head Island in mid-March, according to Sheriff’s Office reports previously obtained by The Island Packet.
On March 12 around 2:20 p.m., deputies responded to an armed robbery where the victim, a Hilton Head man, said he was robbed at gunpoint after “arranging to meet with a woman for sex,” the report said.
When the victim knocked on the door of the home, a white, dark-haired woman in her mid-20s answered and told him to go around the back of the house, the report said. He told deputies she greeted him at the backdoor, took his $110 payment, and let him inside.
Although details about the rest of the incident are redacted from the report, another suspect is listed and described as a black man in his 20s or 30s with curly hair.
Less than a week later around 5 p.m. on March 17, deputies responded to another call of an armed robbery, a report said.
The victim, a Georgia man, told deputies he “found an advertisement for a prostitute on a website,” the report said.
All of the details from the incident are redacted from the report.
The report says deputies swabbed for DNA on the center console and glove box where the suspects allegedly rummaged through the victim’s vehicle.
The Sheriff’s Office release warned that engaging in sex for money is “ill-advised” because it is illegal and increases the risk of becoming a victim of violent and other types of crimes.
The armed robbery investigations are still ongoing.
