![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-124537-100x100.png\")
no happy endings for that guy.
no happy endings for that guy.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-472231-100x100.png\")
That was pretty hilarious. Good job, citizen. Seems like the driver might actually learn his lesson, too.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/css/images/default.gif\")
That's pretty Lowe.
Wow! I can't believe how gutsy this Bates guy is. This can't be for real. He actually throws open the back door of the truck and proceeds to shame the John for several minutes until the cops arrive.
\"You paid 100 dollars?!\"
Talk about taking back your community...
Leave the poor guy alone. Imagine what his wife must look like if he's picking up the obese hooker instead of the much thinner one.
Hasn't the guy videotaping ever heard of Man's Law? You don't bust other guys getting some action on the side. Jeez.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-320606-100x100.png\")
If they'd legalize and regulate prostitution we wouldn't have this problem. Look at the whore houses outside of Reno. Clean, almost resort like, and no where near children.
Is that what Lowes means when they say the offer 'professional carpet installation'?
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-267279-100x100.png\")
I can't believe the idiot had a conversation with the camera-guy and actually told him information such as he's married and his name. Oh, and his kids ages.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-120033-100x100.png\")
The driver's just inviting her to \"build\" something else involving wood.
Goddamn meddlers.
Oh man... Am I the only one that ready that headline and thought \"Not Jimmie Johnson!!!\"
maybe he was doing his part to stimulate the economy with his surplus money, by buying an American made product.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-174912-100x100.png\")
who walks to the grocery store?
thats all i gotta say.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-66943-100x100.png\")
This is the POST TITLE OF THE YEAR imo. You had me at 'Hooker Jar'.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1642-100x100.png\")
Brian Bates is hardly without fault himself. From The Smoking Gun:
According to the [attached] Oklahoma City Police Department report, Brian Bates, 34, orchestrated the public encounters so he could peddle the resulting videotape to media outlets (some of Bates's surveillance tapes are offered for sale on his web site).
The guy realized the lesson of Batman, being a vigilante doesn't pay the bills. He should get some classes in journalism and join the local news as an ambush reporter. He could take lessons from the guy in Cleveland.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6777-100x100.png\")
He's for real here in OK. He actually got arrested a few years ago for paying the hookers to make sure they, uh, serviced their customers. Check him out on TheSmokingGun -- they've got his arrest report.
Urban Bohemian and I think alike...
Who took the hooker from the hooker jar?
Lowe's Driver took the hooker from the hooker jar.
Who me? Yes you.
Couldn't be. Then who?
@structuralpoke: d'oh! that we do!
And thanks Ben, now I can't get the phrase hooker jar outta my head.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-462100-100x100.png\")
The only issue I have is this guy doing it the Lowe's truck. I mean seriously, when are they going to deregulate the oldest profession?
/not sarcasm
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-382241-100x100.png\")
What about shaming people that deal drugs to kids, instead of an illegal transaction between two consenting adults?
um...alleged hooker...
@urban bohemian: This guy's asking for it. Can't stand this sort of vigilante investigative journalism. I hope somebody snaps and teaches this guy a lesson
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87429-100x100.png\")
Heh prostitution....big brother government at its finest...preaching morals to the populace. If 2 consenting adults agree to something that harms no one else....who gives a crap?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-219805-100x100.png\")
@structuralpoke: That right there killed all credibility for the guy filming; Paying hookers to take their 'johns' to a specific spot...he basically facilitating the very thing he's \"againt\". So he's either an attention whore or he's taking his 'mission' waaaay too seriously.
besides, he's gonna wake up dead one day when a 'john' kills him for doing what he does. It's all a numbers game before he comes across the wrong guy...
@RabbitDinner: Yeah, I'm seriously surprised this guy didn't jack Mr. Bates ther feck up. (see what I did there? Mr. Bates? jack?) It's probably all legit but the whole thing feels a wee little bit fake as hell.
Sick of prostitutes and their customers infesting their communities. Well excuse me. It was a residential neighborhood, but still, if I lived there I'd be ready to look up the most obscure local ordinances (no handstands in your front lawn in purple shorts while the sprinklers are on before 10 AM) and videotape people violating them. As someone else pointed out, look at Nevada. As George Carlin pointed out, why is it illegal to pay for something you can give away for free? Legalize prostitution, but legalize the shit out of it like Nevada, and end this underground bullshit and violence towards women. Christ on a cracker.
@Jackasimov: I checked the Oklahoma Offender database, and nothing came up. I'd guess he got probation of some sort.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-446416-100x100.png\")
@Geekmom: @RabbitDinner:
Exactly, I doubt these people are as concerned as with the law so much as they are with moral-based meddling.
I hate this citizen journalism sort of thing. Anyone with a camera and a lot of free time feels like it's their duty to interfer with other peoples' lives.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-88205-100x100.png\")
He lost me when he implied the cop wasn't doing his job because he didn't immediately arrest the guy. The cop was pointing out, correctly IMHO, that he didn't see any evidence of a crime. If the driver had any smarts at all, he would of gone into Clinton mode and deny, deny, deny.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6536-100x100.png\")
The guy realized the lesson of Batman, being a vigilante doesn't pay the bills.
@urban bohemian: But Batman's alter ego is rich. He doesn't need vigilantism to pay the bills. Spiderman on the other hand...
If Bates had to pay people in order to keep making his busts does that mean Oklahomans were complaining about a mostly non-existent problem?
@Geekmom, RabbitDinner, Saboth: Amen. Seriously, \"infesting their communities\"? Those people can go fuck themselves.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-12540-100x100.png\")
Won't someone think of the children?! This Bates guy is just an ass
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-350835-100x100.png\")
Legalize, tax and regulate for the safety of sex workers, customers, communities and law enforcement!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-74911-100x100.png\")
Guy's asking for a tire iron to the side of his head.
Anyone know what neighborhood of OKC this is?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-252038-100x100.png\")
LOL! That was funny as HELL! ANd that guy was awesome! Ballsy! Stalled the guy and everything!
I was thinking for sure that one dude was gonna come off that truck swinging at the guy.
Sad though how the cop didnt want to do anything about it.
Sometimes when you do the cop's job for them in this way.... they get pretty pissed off as if you were somehow showing them up.
oh & EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! @ the hooker he chose. I wonder if he purposely chose a butt-ugly hooker because he knew the chances of a really ugly hooker turning out to be a cop decoy was really slim. I have hear that johns do this.
@Saboth: Seriously. What a dick this camera guy is. And such a drama queen!
\"Our kids can't play outside. Our wives can't walk to the grocery store...\"
OK let's stop it right there. Just shut your mouth. Kids are playing outside and they appear completely happy. And if your wife wants to walk to the store, why can't she? Mr. Driver here is NOT propositioning random women, abducting children, threatening them, or exposing them to moral debauchery.
From a kid's perspective, some guy in a truck just stopped to talk to the chubby lady, he's probably friends with her because she got in his truck and drove away. Whatever kids were around the restaurant (not the same ones that saw her get in, since kids can't chase the truck in a car) would have seen a truck park and the occupants go in the back to look for something. Only a really really bored kid would have stuck around to wait for them to come out and draw conclusions. But even so I doubt they would have come out all naked and stuff. Now any kid old enough to understand what a prostitute is is probably going to put 2 and 2 together, but who the hell cares if they do? Do you teach your kids that no one ever does anything naughty? How is the knowledge that somewhere, someone is doing something against their parents' moral code, going to scar them for life? Of course, you'll probably go home and tell your kids all about this even if they're not old enough to deal with it, and about how this evil horrible man and these dangerous women are EVERYWHERE and about how they'll make YOU go to hell TOO and OH NOES WATCH OUT! That probably WILL fuck them up but oh well, whatevs right?
Mr. Camera Guy, you have a lot more to be ashamed of than Mr. Driver Guy does. Get a life.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-405961-100x100.png\")
I've got a package for you, too!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-444699-100x100.png\")
Even in Nevada there is still plenty of illegal prostitution...
While it is offensive that he was having sex with them while on the job, it is not offensive that he pays women for such sex. All men pay women for sex, that's just the way the world works. If you haven't paid a woman for sex it's because either a) you haven't had sex, or b) you raped her. Women will get their money one way or the other. Accept it, and move on.
He's having sex with the hooker INSIDE the truck. Unless the kids are going around breaking into random trucks, there's no danger to the kids.
How is it offensive that he's having sex on the job? He doesn't work for the govt (hence he's not wasting our money). What he does on the job is between him and his employer.
Regardless of how much you like what this guy is doing, you can't deny the hilarity of the video. I never understood why people would PAY FOR SEX with a fat hooker, with all the free internet porn out there.
Oklahoma sucks.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-175610-100x100.png\")
I'm not sure what the big deal is, he just had a morning wood delivery. Get real people.
And did I notice a second tow truck following the first? If so, I wonder if it was called in to take the hooker away. (A hooker hooker?)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-429725-100x100.png\")
A Chris Hansen, this guy ain't.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-16098-100x100.png\")
I think he chose the wrong hooker.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-411202-100x100.png\")
@West Coast Secessionist: Holy cow I completely agree with you. This is guy is not only a lying chump (look @ previously posted Smoking Gun reports), but he's completely illogical!
Prostitution hurts nobody. Why is it a crime? Regulate it into brothels so that way good, clean people can make they money instead of dirty, desperate, and diseased people that have to constantly look out for cops/\"vigilantes\".
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1161-100x100.png\")
No matter how discreet they were, how about the fact that the driver's money is encouraging the hookers to work in that neighborhood?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-301888-100x100.png\")
No 2x4 in the cab? Turn in your keys!
@West Coast Secessionist: Every kid with half a brain figures out the dirty stuff for himself, with the help of friends. Sex Ed at my school was a joke. Why must we lie to and shelter our kids and leave them to figure it out on their own. If I have kids I'm not feeding them any stork bullshit, curse words are OK, I know you know them anyway, and you don't have to go to church if you don't want to. Of course, this is mostly just a critique of how many of my friends and I were raised, which I truly believe leads to this sort of article.
@Ein2015: because it offends certain people's morals. like with most vices (or possible vices), they're afraid they may be tempted and want to remove the temptation rather than be responsible for their own actions.
Bates would be arrested in Washington State for video taping them with out their permission. At least what is not publicly viewable, like throwing open the back of the truck.
@RabbitDinner: In all fairness, Ben makes a good point. This guy has no business picking up prostitutes on the job, in a residential neighborhood he doesn't live in. And I'd respect the Bates guy as a concerned citizen, except I read about him doing this sort of b.s. for over a decade and even selling his material. Asshat.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-205377-100x100.png\")
I don't applaud this video. If it were me, I'd do enough to guarantee that this ass lost his job, or was arrested.
But to berate the guy for a long time is inhuman.
Increasingly, Americans find themselves amazed and entertained bythe \"amazing and stupid things poor people will do.\" People useprostitutes for lots of reasons, but one isn't because they have toomuch money or too many hobbies. This guy is working poor, and you areall feeding on him. It makes me uneasy.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-79408-100x100.png\")
the guy got a \"penguin\" for $100, from a fat hooker..
@RabbitDinner: was it his lunch break? sex on your lunch hour is fair game because it's not on company time. although using the company van is definitely not ok.
@SuffolkHouse: because in america sex is criminalized and the sexual are demonized.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-414324-100x100.png\")
If this was FARK, the vigilante citizen would have gone ahead and joined in. THEN the cops would have shown up.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-172664-100x100.png\")
So THAT'S why delivery guys are always late!
Isn't there some statute in OK for filming people having sex? Especially for personal gain (fame, money) I mean, c'mon there's evidence right there. Not that there's anything wrong with it mind you, it just seems there's a moral issue there as well.
I've read this thread and maybe all of you are wealthy enough that you don't live in a neighborhood where prostitutes are out in the open. Come to the poorer neighborhoods of NYC and you'll see plenty of women still strolling the streets waiting for johns to proposition them.
Indeed, when that happens, inevitably women who are *not* prostitutes and who are *not* provocatively dressed, get propositioned. I can't tell you a) how incredibly that uncomfortable that is and b) how unsafe that makes a woman feel in her own neighborhood.
And please don't think johns look for hookers only during the night time - it happens at all hours of the day. (Once when I was about 7 and going to work with my father at 7am , he was propositioned by a hooker in Times Square). So yes, I could understand how when walking to the grocery store a woman could be propositioned by a john, and I can also see the inevitable when a psycho-john goes psycho on her because he \"wants\" her.
Should prostitution be legalized? Maybe. But until it is, it is still *illegal*. I want to take my kids to city parks - but there are parks I avoid because I know there are hookers soliciting, johns soliciting, and drug dealers there. Wouldn't you do something about it? Besides call 311 and complain?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-302597-100x100.png\")
Howe's: Let's Build Something, Together!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-387761-100x100.png\")
So Mister Bates is getting off on videotaping Johns.
Or is my saying that a Lowes blow?
While I admit that this is humorous, in that the john stayed around answering questions until the po-po could get there...
I am not sure how this is consumerist worthy post...Are you warning prospective johns away from OKC turf?
Are you warning them about the low quality of Hookers?
That was the only consumer I saw in this post...
Lowes was an afterthought and had nothing really to do with this.
Donopolis
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-285595-100x100.png\")
As soon as the back of the truck was opened, he was violating private property. As long as the driver is responsible for the truck, he has the right to defend the truck.
Camera man would have been spitting / s*itting electronics for the next few days.
The police would have been informed that while I was in the back of the truck, this man opened the door illegally and started videotaping me.
Illegal in every state I know.
You can not walk down the street testing door handles of cars to see which are open...
I am AMAZED at so many people here actually defending the lowes guy!
Hey, I am all for legalized prostitution, but not for hookers hanging out in my neighborhood having sex with johns. Hell! I dont want hookers hanging out ANYWHERE on the streets in my city/town.
And yeah the guy videotaping has obviously let this gone to his head & stepped over the line in the name of fame & greed. Shame on him for that.
But comeon! Who wants hookers on their neighborhood streets?
Prostitution is already legalized, it's called dating
This Bates guy is an asshole. Yeah, Master Bates obviously doesn't need a prostitute, but don't spoil everyone else's fun
This guy's brilliant, he's found a way to indulge in his sick love of voyeurism, make money AND get lauded as a good citizen. He and the Lowes guy make a good pair. What a couple of scumbags.
Cue Masturbates by MSI. Perfect music for the video
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-90329-100x100.png\")
Ballsy? Not a chance. Stupid more like it. Stalled the guy? He let the prostitute get away... We all know by now that getting rid of the customers doesn't solve anything, have to take care of the source.
This guy isn't doing anything to solve the problem. His intent is just to make himself seem special and get attention. Now, he risks something happening to him and his family, from people who might seek revenge.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-383251-100x100.png\")
Who knew that Lowes paid their employees enough to frequent prostitutes....
Hey Bates - did you maybe think about reprimanding and having the hooker arrested instead?
If you want to clean up your streets, get rid of the hookers and their wont be any customers coming around looking.
One hooker being arrested is worth probably about 50 Johns.
Leave the poor guy alone. Bad enough his hooker weighs 250lbs.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-246704-100x100.png\")
States can make great tax revenues by legalizing prositution
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-462821-100x100.png\")
Is it the curse of every vigilante to be drawn to the dark side?
\"You'll either die young or live long enough to see yourself become a villan.\"
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-16563-100x100.png\")
1) Aren't handcuffs pretty kinky for that early in the morning?
2) His \"date\" looks just a bit too masculine.
They have hookers? In Arizona?! Now I'm totally not voting for McCain!
Maybe it's just me, but when I hear him whining, \"it's for the children,\" why is my first thought, \"So he wants to buy a round of prostitutes for all the neighborhood boys?!\"
(boy, this story just keeps giving, and giving and giving...)
WAIT! Did he wash his hands, because I'd hate to be the next delivery...ewwwwwwww.
Don't ya know that a Lowe's truck is a prostitute magnet? I see why he has to pay for it, EWWWWWW!
Bates \"gave direction to the prostitutes on how to complete the act with a high probability of success,\" as well as tips on how to spot an undercover cop. Bates was hit with a felony pandering charge and a misdemeanor count of aiding in prostitution. The pandering rap, which is usually reserved for pimps, carries a minimum two-year jail term, and a maximum of 20 years in the stir.
...Figures a guy that has \"Kind of Clintonesque, don't you think\" as part of his working vocabulary ends up himself being arraigned on charges of pimping and faces 20 years. For pandering.
Perfect. Just perfect.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-63807-100x100.png\")
@laserjobs: They can make great revenue by legalizing murder for hire too. Heck, why don't we just legalize organized crime while we're at it?
@GrandizerGo: Just how soundproof do you think that truck is? If you can here them from the outside of the truck, it's not private for much longer.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-352120-100x100.png\")
While I don't condone his activities in the vicinity of children, isn't what Bates is doing basically considered government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation? Does he hate the free market? Freedom?
Whatever. Other than the swarm of hookers, I'm sure Oklahoma! is a lovely place.
@Michael Belisle: you really equate to consenting adults entering into a financial arrangement (however immoral in others' eyes)with two people arranging to kill another?
and the option of legalizing Organized is crime is asinine because if legal it is not a crime..then it is just an organization.
@Michael Belisle: You might wish to think of the difference between your act and prostitution.
First off - find any nonreligious reason why prostitution is wrong or wronger than a one-night-stand with a random person at a bar. \"It's illegal\" doesn't count, nor do any issues that stem from it's illegality (for example, the existence of abusive pimps). You won't, not unless you get into the realm of subjectivity (it's demeaning to the woman!!! etc etc).
Now, think of who is negatively affected by the act of prostitution. The John? nah. The prostitute? nah. The john's family? if he has one, then probably (who knows, open relationships exist). However, that's the fault of the John, and would still occur during a random one-night stand or an affair. There's no actual victim.
Now, compare to murder. Murder is a crime with a rather well defined victim, called the victim.
@donopolis: you really equate to consenting adults entering into a financial arrangement (however immoral in others' eyes)with two people arranging to kill another?
No, I dispute begging the question by saying we should legalize prostitution because it can make great tax revenue. Lots of illegal things can bring in great tax revenue; many of them should stay illegal.
and the option of legalizing Organized is crime is asinine because if legal it is not a crime..then it is just an organization.
It's paradox day today.
I'll give him one thing, the guy has balls.
Here is his website. [johntv.com]
Crazy videos. He busts a lot of people. I am surprised he hasn't gotten a beat down.
What a waste of resources. Legalize it!
While I don't have an issue with the guy being caught, I do have an issue putting him on camera. I feel like everyone deserves their privacy.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-157517-100x100.png\")
Oklahoma is the buckle of the Bible Belt. It surprises me in no way to find that bands of vigilantes are imposing their morals on others in this area.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-441135-100x100.png\")
\"Lowes knows hooking\" (que Gene Hackman's voice)
I stand corrected...it should have been \"Lowes knows Johning\"
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-175620-100x100.png\")
@bria:
The drug dealer is probably packing some heat. If he isn't his supplier certainly is.
The point about going after these people is to feel self-righteous with minimum downside.
@Grive:
Or as a wise man once said:
\"Why is it illegal to sell what is completely legal to give away?\"
Man why didn't he get that one walking in the foreground?
This kind of thing bothers me \"Our wives can't walk to the grocery store because of the hookers?\" Really? Are the hookers trying to pick up his wife?
This guy is the wrong kind of justice.
This video is actually pretty old , i live in this neighborhood ( the video of the guy having sex while the track team runs past , my daughter is one of those girls) what Brian does is quite appreciated by those of us who live in this area .
I live 4 blocks from the school yet my daughters cannot walk there , they cannot walk across the street to the store , they cant even play in the front yard because men will circle the block , stop and try to talk to them and some girls have reported men offering them money or flashing them .
i dont live in a slum ,our house is nice and the school is awesome so moving isnt an option .
And the whole \"he set up the videos \" was proven false , it was a smear campaign by our former DA as retaliation for the video of the police beating one \"john\" .
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-159057-100x100.png\")
Oklahoma wants to think it is the buckle. It's the tail end of the Bible belt, with more than enough frauds that have slid to the bottom, such as Oral Roberts and more. Neocons rule the state. Just watch the results of the upcoming presidential election. This state is so red, neither are actually campaigning here because they already know the results.
I live 4 blocks from the school yet my daughters cannot walk there , they cannot walk across the street to the store , they cant even play in the front yard because men will circle the block , stop and try to talk to them and some girls have reported men offering them money or flashing them.
@BadBadKitty: EW!
OK, so definitely not a non-existent problem.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-7884-100x100.png\")
I don't want hookers on my block or people having sex in trucks outside my house either. I understand this on that level, but perhaps some lawyer here can explain why it's constitutional to pass laws that two consenting adults cannot exchange money for sex when they can exchange money for, say, tomatoes.
Adults can't go to the store, but in the first shot two kids seem to be playing just fine. Your daughter can safely run in the area with the track team, but couldn't walk to school with a group?
To be honest, the best way to combat this stuff in my mind is to get out in groups, take back those corners as places for families. John's won't pick up working girls when there are kids playing hopscotch being watched by parents.
Ya know that chunky whore could actually be the guys wife/girlfriend and they were doing some role playing.
Ok, only about 0.1% chance of being correct. But if I was Lowe's guy I would have introduced the camera guy to my long time girlfriend.
@kc2idf: Oklahoma is the buckle of the Bible Belt. It surprises me in no way to find that bands of vigilantes are imposing their morals on others in this area.
In that case, them being so holy and all, shouldn't there be no pimpin', whorin', drinkin' or fightin'? Anywhere?! I mean, being all so holy 'n all...
What a Lowe life. Keep on truckin' baby...
@Corporate-Shill: Pretty much. The lowe's driver is kind of a moron. Deny to heck and back. Works for the government. . Especially when the \"evidence\" is reduced to someone picking someone else, both going to the back of the trailer, and both having their pants down sometime later. If that constituted a crime, we'd all be criminals by the time we reached adulthood... or went to the pool with friends.
Without his confession after the act, the driver could have even ended serving a nice hot lawsuit to Master (videographer) Bates
@Grive:
Yep. I remember parking when I was a teenager. Didn't mean she was a whore. Well she might have been, 'cause that is the reason I went out with her, but I didn't pay her money (unless you count popcorn at the movie as some sort of payment).
Why does it matter if there are kids of wives nearby. Its not like they are having sex in front of them and just watching them walk by hurts nobody
OMG I just realized that people have sex in their homes ALL the time while kids and wives are walking by, how awful, they should all be arrested
@linbey: The problem is that some johns might proposition to girls who are not prostitutes, under the assumption that any women in there are one. Works the same way on the other direction.
That, and illegal prostitution tends to attract, shall we say, unsavory kinds of people.
Don't demonize the prostitute. Demonize the situation that made her choose prostitution (not said very well, but you know what I mean. maybe.)
And to all of those misogynistic assholes saying that dating is prostitution, welcome to 2008. Women like sex now too!
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If you don't live on the south side of OKC then you probably don't know how bad it is here. Its not like its a nice place that happens to have a few hookers walking around. Its the hookers, the drugs, the pimps, the gangs, and the nasty Johns that they attract. Brian Bates is awesome, he's one of the few people out there trying to make south OKC a better place.
And the charges against him did not stick because they were a bunch of lies. It was all because of the former DA Wes Lane who tried to stop Bates because he filmed two OKC police officers beating the shit out of a john while he was filming. Lane got voted out of office, and Bates is still out there with his camera.
@CptnNemo: You obviously havent watched all the videos , in several there are children in yards and parents outside and they pick the girl up in plain site .
The reason my daughter could run with the track team and not walk with a group is this , she attends a charter school , she has few if any classmates that live nearby .
After i alerted the principal to that video he had the girls coach follow in a car ( which she should have been doing all along)
Luckily i live about a mile from the worst area , but i have actually lived there years ago and it was insane to walk to the store , im not hot by any means and i dont dress provocative but cars would stop one after another trying to pick me up . Its humiliating and unless im waving and flashing my thong they shouldnt try to pick me up.
It is also not just sex in cars that was so bad ,we found needles , crack pipes and condoms left in our yard and alley .
Im not against prostitution , but when they are exposing children to theyre lifestyle and bringing dangerous perverts into my neighborhood , then i have a problem with it .
@BadBadKitty: Found something [www.chicagotribune.com]
It was a reference to a legal fight between the Video Vigilante and another Oklahoma City character, former Dist. Atty. Wes Lane, who called himself the \"minister of justice.\" Lane charged Bates with felony pandering in 2005, accusing him of paying prostitutes to take men to places where he could better film them. Websites posted the Video Vigilante's arrest report.Bates admitted he'd paid prostitutes \"for their time\" to share their stories but denied conspiring with them. He claimed that police and prosecutors had a grudge against him because in 2002 he videotaped two officers beating a black man -- a case that got national headlines.
Due in part to his tussle with Bates, who distributed leaflets around town noting that the prosecutor's wife had surrendered her medical license amid substance abuse problems, Lane was voted out of office. The charges against Bates were later reduced to misdemeanors, but the case took a toll on Bates' finances -- and his reputation.
My husband and I looked at some of the other videos on YouTube and also checked out his site- while this guy definitely has nads, the \"Johns\" who pick these young women up and then get sex for $20, enlist 2 at once for oral sex or hop into their backseat with a hooker in a cemetary while people are 50 feet away paying respects....NOW THAT'S BALLSY!!I have to say I am on Bates's side- I wouldn't want this crap in my neighborhood either.
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Best Lowe's story ever
great, now I have this to think about every time any deliveries is late...that my item saw the deliveryman have sex...or had sex on it.
This guy deserves to lose his job (not because he was on the clock and using a company vehicle) simply because of his taste in women. I'm sure there must be a clause in the companies HR Manual...that makes it legal for them to fire an employee for \"having sex with a something that ugly\".
Sadly, this is moment in his life that his friends and family will never let him live down ;-)
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i love the \"end school zone\" sign shot...
@Grive: Yeah, I totally agree with you. Prostitution, decriminalized, makes it easier to protect sex-workers, easier to screen for disease, and generally less destructive. You can still have street-walkers arrested, etc. And if the sex-workers were declaring income and paying taxes, that would be to the benefit of society.
That said, I can't blame the video guy for wanting to clean up his neighborhood. I'm glad he starts off by disclaiming that its not Lowe's fault. I think that companies are often blamed for the acts of idiot employees (although companies certainly have a responsibility to try to screen and train employees).
Okay, I had to jump in since I am the topic of conversation. Not to highjack the thread, but to address a couple of things and be gone. No back and forth, you can do that through my site or YouTube.
First; I'm getting a great kick out of being on the Consumerist.com. I love this site and visit it often! Though I'm not sure exactly how my activism fits in a consumer focused blog - O'well.
Some of you should note that I am very open about my opinion that certain forms of prostitution should be decriminalized and not a burden on our limited resources. Specifically, prostitution that is 100% consensual, private and unorganized. Basically, one woman with a website working in an outcall basis (no pimp, no brothel, no agency, no curb crawling and no neon signs or fliers). What two adults do in the bedroom COMPLETELY behind closed doors is none of mine or the government's business.
Second; My arrest and subsequent charges were years ago and were the direct result of my very outspoken nature against then D.A. Wes Lane. Conveniently enough I had a pretty cozy relationship with both the police and the D.A. for many years. That is until I videotaped two white police officers beating the crap out of an unarmed black man with a white female prostitute. I was even able to show publicly that D.A. Lane removed part of the audio from the tape (I had made a copy). The audio in question had the police officer threatening to kill the black man - before he had pacifyingly resisted arrest.
After the D.A. lost his bid for re-election (see [www.voteoutweslane.com]) he paid for a focus group to see what happened. The #1 reason was bad press (he openly referred to me as the 'media snitch') and #2 was mine and another individual's malicious prosecution. Keep in mind, this was a D.A. who referred to himself in public as the \"Minister of Justice.\"
He himself dropped and refiled the case against me three times to avoid a trial but continued the financial and mental burden upon me. After he was voted out of office no other D.A. had any interest in pursuing the case and all 9 felonies were dropped (up to 240 years in prison) if I would take a deferred for - get this - obstructing a police officer, by not turning in a videotape that was shot at an unknown date, unknown location and had an unknown content. And by not turing in this tape the police did not have the opportunity to review it for criminal charges against whomever was in the tape. They were in such a hurry to get the case over with they didn't even want me to come up with a tape or any details of one. The plea saved me at least another $50,000 in legal fees and will be removed from my record. Not once did I stop my activism during my case. The many documentaries and appearances I have made since then do not even mention the case as it has been deemed nonsense and vindictive. See [www.okgazette.com] for a good overview of the case up to the point it was written.
As for my activism, it draws praise and criticism alike. If I wanted to pat myself on the back I would have chosen feeding the children or saving the whales, but I figured those bases were covered. So, I choose something that most people shy away from because they do not have thick enough skin to tackle.
My goal is not the eradication of street prostitution as that is an unrealistic goal. My goal is to keep the topic of prostitution in the hearts and minds of the community and its leaders. To spur an ongoing dialogue and to dispel the many myths that perpetuate street level prostitution.
My way of doing things is over the top because I seek the loudest voice I can. I am competing with Hollywood, video games, TV and an MTV generation who think \"Pretty Woman\" is a documentary.
Street prostitution is not victimless.
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If anyone else just walked up to a commercial vehicle and tried/succeeded at swinging open any of the doors on it that'd be considered breaking/entering.
What makes you think I got special consideration? The supervisor on scene obviously didn't want to cooperate with me. If he could have found fault with anything I did he would have pursued it. In this day and age of Law and Order, CSI, etc. on the TV, many people draw wrong conclusions on the law. That is one reason I pursued a criminal justice degree - to separate fact from fiction. If you watch many of my videos you'll see I often open the car doors of the \"Johns\" - this is not illegal either and several Johns have tried to have me charged. It simply does not meet the 'elements of the crime.' For breaking and entry there has to be intent to commit a crime or deprive someone of their rights or property. Neither occurs when I open a door that is not locked to begin with.@StickyPurpleCat:
Actually that was completely untrue. While I have had offers to sell the rights to my videos for some sort of \"Hookers Gone Wild\" I have rejected all such offers - one as high as $250,000 plus percentage of the orders.@urban bohemian:
thats a huge bitch!
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chunky. ewww.