Billboards highlighting this make-believe spa have long graced I-26. Informant connected police assuredly knew of this illegal hotspot within weeks of the first “exotic” service. UPS condom deliveries by the thousands might also have been a clue. That this criminal enterprise thrived for so long tells us a lot about local enforcement enthusiasm. That it represents only the tip of the sex trade iceberg tells us much more.

 In today’s Asheville, the sexual service delivery system centers on self-described “escorts.”  Escort is code for “I will do anything for money, but want you, me, and everyone else to pretend I am a guileless waif struggling to do my best in a tough world.” The world is certainly tough, but the rest is fantasy. Escorts services are to prostitution what hotdogs are to meat byproducts – fancy packaging hiding bad stuff.

Going by the numbers of these locally advertised enterprises, a lot of Asheville’s men have given up dating and chose to purchase female companionship. That the ladies embracing this window of opportunity charge the same per hour fee as another professional group – attorneys – is purely coincidental.   

Some of our area prostitutes, typically drug users needing a fix, openly step out on city streets. South French Broad – yes, where our middle school is located – and Haywood Road seem to be happy hunting grounds for these mobile professionals. That they operate openly demonstrates a lack of meaningfully challenge – and that business is good.

In 21st century Asheville, savvy chicks stay off the street and rely on the internet and smart phones. A quick on-line yellow pages check (yellowpages.com/asheville-nc/escort-services) reveals fourteen escort services in Asheville. There are tons of other links offering email addresses, phone numbers, text options, vital statistics, pictures, fees, and service plans (http://www.usasexguide.info/forum/archive/index.php/t-8586.html).

Like attorneys, escort services use unique terminology to veil the authentic nature of their work. In the case of escorts, the pretense is nothing harmful is going on. Come to think of it the legal profession maintains that same posture. As regards the former, citing physical measurements, posting lingerie selfies, and then charging two or more Benjamin’s an hour for your company stretches the credibility of much proclaimed innocence. (asheville.backpage.com/FemaleEscorts/).

Consider one site’s annotation – “Read Before U Call – I am an independent Provider. You agree & understand that I will not tolerate explicit language. I will hang up on you. You understand that you are providing me with a donation based on the agreement that it is for the time and companionship I will provide to you. You agree that you are not affiliated with any law enforcement agency.” Unfortunately all that angelic purity is tarnished by the fact this young lady’s services, like those of her peers, receives on-line client references and reviews. Light-hearted banter and hand holding are not the activities cheered by her fan base (bigdoggie.net/reviews/search).

For more specifics on fees, check out the Internet address of this local escort resource (atouchofclass5star.net/rates). You can come to them or they will come to you for around $300 an hour or a bargain rate of $3,500 for 24.

Even attorneys can’t find a way to charge for the full day. According to an internet traffic analysis monitoring service, this particular site has an average of 58 new daily viewers.

Some ladies rent or own a home and provide services out of their residence. Many use hotels. Facilities in proximity to the Asheville airport enjoy favored status. Other sex-for-hire mavens live like gypsies, staying for days or weeks and moving on to fresh opportunities in other permissive cities.

How do our police and judicial system figure in all this?  Not much. In terms of local enforcement – most especially internet prostitution – the point of action is handwringing, an occasional symbolic arrest, and minimal consequence. The brazenness of Asheville’s red light activity makes it clear the bad guys and their sponsors are liberated from serious pressure.  

You know the drill – police administrators blame the judiciary, the judiciary blames politicians, and politicians blame budgetary limitations. Everyone blames everything but a lack of leadership.   

To their credit the police have initiated a program to help prostitutes break out of the life. Realistically that’s social work – low hanging fruit for those we uniquely empower with badges, guns and arrest authority. Police doing real police work is important because the first step to rehabilitating bad guys is to make sure they can’t get by with bad things.

Other municipalities impair sex-for-hire enterprise with creativity, persistency, reverse stings, public revelation of the givers and takers, and elected officials who recognize no crime is victimless and push for action.

The fast track to stopping the farce is for web posting services to bill through traceable credit cards. That’s not happening because internet prostitution would wither under the resulting scrutiny and escort listing services like Backpage would lose millions.

The world’s oldest profession holds a tight embrace to drugs, organized crime, violence, extortion, STD’s, corruption, and broken hearts, families, and children. Per those who research these things, most prostitutes hold a childhood history of being molested. Drug addiction almost always becomes a seasoning motivation. Internet girls typically have a pimp/boyfriend pulling the strings, are raped by clients multiple times each year, are currently or formerly homeless, have attempted suicide, and actively yearn for something better.  

Human trafficking is one of the great underreported tragedies in our culture. Thanks to passivity by the authorities, elected officials, the faith based community, and most of the rest of us, this debasing phenomenon is alive and well in Western North Carolina.

Though Asheville – a self-celebrating “cesspool of sin” – serves as a safe haven for this harm, does anybody really believe prostitution is a sustainable means to anything good? Women are not designed as rentable toys for immature little boys.

Can prostitution be eradicated? No – there are too many juvenile souls in this ever darkening world. Can it be dramatically impaired? Yes – if a community cares enough to face and challenge the harm.  Asheville is not that kind of community.

(Do you have information about something harmful in our community? Contact us in confidence at 828-252-8390 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Bad things grow in the dark and we have a flashlight – do you have a whistle?)

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(Are you aware of something happening in our community meriting attention? Give us a call or an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we will confidentially expose your concerns to public scrutiny. Bad things grow in the dark — and the Daily Planet has a flashlight.)

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Carl Mumpower, a former member of Asheville City Council, may be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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 EDITOR’S NOTE: If you know someone trying to break free of prostitution entanglements, On Eagles Wings and ABCCM are available to help. They have real-world success stories with recovery and specialize in providing a helping hand of shelter and support.

On Eagles Wings reports they actually reach out to these girls and call their numbers and that as many as 3 percent respond to an offer for help. 

According to National Runaway Hotline — One in three teens on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home. (National Runaway Hotline)

Based on that statistic alone, many of our readers already know children currently being lured into the escort business. This is one way to help.