BERKLEY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Berkley police arrested a woman on accusations of prostitution and drug use. They called the sting "Operation Teddy."
It happened Wednesday night in the 1200 block of West Boulevard near Woodward Avenue.
7 Action News knocked at the home in question. The homeowner answered and agreed to an interview. He explained it was a female friend of his who police arrested during the sting.
“They don’t reside here. They just stay here once in a while," the man said.
Detective Andrew Hadfield said complaints from neighbors started coming in late November.
“We watched her for a couple weeks. We weren’t seeing a lot of activity. Around January, the activity picked back up. So at that point we were able to watch for a couple weeks and get some information, mainly finding her online profile," Hadfield explained.
He said an undercover officer messaged back and forth with the woman to set up a date for her services. They met Wednesday night and the officer arrested her.
When asked if the allegations are true, the homeowner replied, "Not that I’m aware of.”
7 Action News spoke with a few neighbors off camera. We're told about a dozen children live on the block, which makes the amount of traffic to the home concerning.
One neighbor expressed relief.
“This incident, it was something we wouldn’t have directly known about except for the neighbors reported it to us. Most crimes in our community are solved by the neighbors telling us what they see going on,” Hadfield said. “In this case, it was the tip that led us and started us to hopefully shutting this down."
Police say no johns were arrested. In one instance, we were told there wasn’t enough evidence during a traffic stop.
Lastly, the detective says the suspect in this case likely isn’t from Berkley but may have been doing the same things at another location in Southfield.
