Warning: This report contains mature content, including descriptions of sexual contact that may be disturbing to some. All declined to comment. For nearly two years, Lewisville police used questionable tactics to arrest women for prostitution. Then the cases fell apart, and the officers themselves were investigated. The department's internal affairs report filled more than 2, pages and included more than 50 interviews.
The I-Team obtained the report and hours of audio of the officers explaining what went wrong. From October to July , officers in the Street Crimes Unit visited different locations posing as customers willing to pay for sex acts.
But an internal investigation found in many cases they went too far. In a sting operation, like much of police work, undercover officers are generally focused on obtaining probable cause. That is the minimum legal standard police and prosecutors need to arrest a suspect or file charges. For the Lewisville prostitution stings, that meant all the officers needed was a verbal agreement with the suspects to exchange money for sex acts.
But as Street Crimes Unit Det. Robert Limon, one of the leaders of the sting operation, discussed with Internal Affairs, in at least one of his cases, he went past the point of probable cause. So there, there's your probable cause, right? But then after that you stay and you ask them to get undressed, and you know, they're naked and you know, they're massaging you and grabbing your penis.
Robert Limon: Well we don't, we don't just walk out. IA Investigator: Why not? You have enough. Robert Limon: I don't know. IA Investigator: You have the probable cause.. Why not break contact? Robert Limon: I have no idea, like I said, on that part. Limon later told Internal Affairs investigators that he was trying not to reveal himself as a police officer, so the women would not become suspicious.
