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Web site rates Daytona area prostitutes


Staff and Wire Report

Books have Amazon, and classified advertisements have Craigslist. Prostitutes have The Erotic Review.

In a little-known success story, TheEroticReview.com has come to dominate the country's prostitution scene, which is increasingly migrating from the street corner to the Internet.

And some of the women -- and even one transsexual -- who advertise everything from their sexual services to the size of their breasts on the Web site are based in the Daytona Beach area.

The Web site, which is still in operation -- its creator David Elms is in jail in Los Angeles awaiting trial on an unrelated matter -- allows visitors to rank their experiences with prostitutes on a scale of 1 to 10, as well as to leave comments. It gets 500,000 to 1 million unique visitors each month, according to companies that track Web traffic.

The Erotic Review works like many consumer review sites. Visitors to the site can look for prostitutes by city or area code and find contact information, personal Web sites, physical attributes like height and body type, and numeric rankings.

At least 20 women and one transsexual are ready for a good time in Daytona Beach, according to The Erotic Review. The women -- Amber, Angelina, TS Jayla, Nina and Misty, to name a few -- range in age from 18 to 45 and older, and are available day or night.

The ratings and comments posted by some of the reviewers, or johns, are just as interesting as some of the descriptions the women have posted on the Web site regarding their anatomy.

The men posted comments concerning the overall looks of the escorts and their performance. Some men labeled their escort as "homely," while others called their escorts "really hot." Statements about the women's performances were even more colorful. Those included everything from "I should have stayed home" to "She went the extra mile."

The Web site even includes a section titled "Rip-offs," which showcases the names of women who either did not provide their customer with a good time, or cheated them monetarily in some way or another.

More broadly, the Internet is changing prostitution. In recent years, thousands of prostitutes have posted their own Web sites, including their pictures and contact information. They are called Net walkers. The Internet, they say, has let them more easily reach clientele, particularly high-paying customers, and vet them.

One Daytona Beach escort, who asked not to be identified because she has children, said she joined The Erotic Review in 2004 and, so far, has found it very profitable for her services, which she provides part time.

"The paycheck I get from doing this helps me pay the mortgage and for food," said the 27-year-old woman, who works a regular job as a nurse. "I wouldn't be able to make ends meet without it.

"If I had to get a second job, I wouldn't be able to spend as much time with my kids," she added.

The woman also mentioned that advertising over the Internet does make it easier for her to screen her "gentlemen."

"I make them give me a cell-phone number that I can verify, and I usually meet them in a public place," she said.

The escort meets her customers at an apartment that she rents with a group of friends.

"I would never take these men to my home. I don't want that near my children," she said.

Robert Weisberg, a professor of criminal law at Stanford, said prostitution promoted online -- even if overtly advertised -- might not pique law enforcement interest because the crime usually receives little attention.

But the Daytona Beach escort who spoke to The Daytona Beach News-Journal said she was once telephoned by Police Chief Mike Chitwood when his department launched a sting operation aimed at baiting women who advertised on Craigslist for sexual rendezvous in the city. For that operation, investigators telephoned women who advertise on Craigslist and pretended to be johns interested in a sexual romp at a motel in the city.

Jodi Michelle Link, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who specializes in sex and vice crimes, said prosecuting Elms for his connection to The Erotic Review could be difficult for free speech reasons. She also said the prostitutes who said they had been asked by Elms for sexual favors would have trouble making a criminal case against him because they could simply choose not to participate on his site.

For the nurse who meets her customers at a Daytona Beach apartment -- she is a Volusia County resident -- The Erotic Review has provided a safe way to make extra cash.

"Things are tough in this country right now," she said.

-- Staff Writer Lyda Longa contributed to this New York Times report.