PANAMA CITY BEACH — The promise of modeling opportunities enticed a 16-year-old girl into a year of prostitution, police discovered after a raid on a local prostitution den Tuesday.
Since May, Panama City Beach Police have been investigating an escort service operated out of Laketown Wharf Resort,
As their investigation unfolded, the 16-year-old, whose identity has been withheld by police, told officers she was recruited through a Craigslist.org modeling advertisement. She called the number on the ad and met with Joe Worthy Dobbs, 50, who wanted to take pictures of her, she said.
During her first few meetings with Dobbs, she told police he convinced her to go on “dates” with unknown males. At first she didn’t have sex on the dates until Dobbs insisted he show her what the “customers” were wanting during their encounters, according to police reports.
That was more than a year ago, she told police. She had been an escort ever since. But she wasn’t alone.
“We got information (Dobbs) was running a small prostitution ring out of there,” said Police Chief Drew Whitman. “We never expected he was … the guy who was running this group the whole time.”
Dobbs advertised the girl on several Internet sites under the business name Emerald Coast Escorts. He set her rates, took phone calls and booked encounters for 40 percent of all the profits. The girl also told police she was not the only prostitute operating out of unit 1834 in
The size of the escort group’s customer base is difficult to pin down. However, Emerald Coast Escorts’ public Yahoo account boasts 178 members. Its profile claims the company was established in July 2002 by Kierstan Donte. A review of the group’s message history shows a spike in activity to 450 messages in October 2013 after mediocre attention over the years since its creation. Messages spiked at 398 in November and again in January with 335 responses.
The 16-year-old was one of seven women operating out of the room, police discovered. During their raid Tuesday, officers found two other admitted escorts in the unit. The two said they were using it as their den, and Dobbs also took a 40 percent cut of their profits for arranging encounters.
Dobbs told police he was the sole owner of Emerald Coast Escorts and it was his main source of income. He admitted to soliciting the 16-year-old as an escort but said he was unaware of her age.
Police said they have not arrested any of the girls involved nor charged any customers of Emerald Coast Escorts at this time, but the investigation is continuing.
Dobbs appeared in court Wednesday on charges of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution, living off prostitution earnings and renting a space for prostitution.
Laketown Warf officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.