Males busted for purchasing intercourse attend LA ‘John College’ to duck jail

Educating outdated canines new methods.

Intercourse fiends who get busted sleeping with prostitutes in Los Angeles can attend so-called John College — the place commencement might imply no jail time and clear information.

The unorthodox court-ordered rehab program helps Johns flip from their pervy methods — and graduates say it has saved their careers, their marriages and even their lives.

“Most males suppose prostitution is a victimless crime. She desires the cash, I need the intercourse. That’s the furthest factor from the reality,” stated Invoice Margolis, founding father of the Prostitution Diversion Program — aka “the John College” — designed to show the horrifying reality of the sex-for-sale trade and assist males get again on the straight and slender.

Margolis labored as an LA vice cop for 30 years, the place he noticed girls enslaved, overwhelmed, and compelled to do unspeakable acts by ruthless pimps. He additionally noticed Johns get robbed, shot, contaminated with HIV and lose their households to intercourse dependancy.

He believes pulling again the curtain on the grim trade is sufficient to scare males straight.

“We had a younger woman, who was a survivor, got here right into a room stuffed with 40 guys, and when she talked about her previous, what her father had executed to her, each man within the room had tears of their eyes,” Margolis stated, describing one of many program’s audio system.

Reforming intercourse addicts — and expunging information

The one-day course gives on-line lessons through which arrestees hear statistics, info, and horror tales from former Johns and prostitutes from red-light districts like LA’s infamous Figueroa Hall, aka “The Blade.”

This system launched in LA County however has since expanded to Riverside, Orange, Ventura and Santa Barbara. This system’s 4,400-plus alumni embrace blue-collar employees, docs, attorneys and various celebrities, Margolis stated.

Someday in John College not solely retains guys out of jail however expunges convictions from their information, Margolis stated.

“I used to be spending $1,000 a month on women. I couldn’t even afford garments and stuff for my youngsters,” stated one John College graduate, who goes by Eddy.

Eddy began prowling “The Blade” when his job and marriage fell on exhausting instances. Ogling at girls was chatting, which was paying for infrequent intercourse acts, which was full-on romps in his automobile three or 4 instances per week.

Subsequent factor Eddy knew, he was at the back of a squad automobile. The court docket gave him a alternative: Spend as much as six months in jail — or go to John College.

“Till I grew to become concerned in this system, I didn’t understand what number of males are on the market affected by intercourse dependancy,” Eddy stated.

“They open their eyes within the morning and suppose, ‘How am I going to get a prostitute? How a lot porn am I going to look at? What number of instances am I going to masturbate?’”

John College helped Eddy study in regards to the psychology of his behavior and discover a therapist for his intercourse dependancy. He stated he hasn’t had the urge to return to “The Blade” since finishing this system.

Confirmed success

Eddy isn’t the one John College success. Inside its first 5 years, of 1,550 males despatched to this system, solely 4 had been arrested once more for soliciting prostitution, reported KPCC.

Dozens of comparable packages have sprouted throughout the nation lately, together with in Chicago, Washington, DC, Nashville and St. Paul.

Final yr, Ohio State star wrestler and Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder was despatched to John College after being busted for purchasing intercourse in Ohio, reported the Columbus Dispatch.

For one more alumnus, who goes by Will, Johns College opened his eyes to the struggling his actions delivered to the ladies he employed for intercourse.

“I discovered about how these girls I assumed actually preferred me had been simply on the lookout for cash, and the way I used to be affecting them on an emotional and psychological degree,” Will stated.

Nevertheless, some males don’t get the privilege of enrolling in John College.

“In the event that they get busted for underage women, they don’t go to this system. They go to jail,” Margolis stated.

Harsh actuality

When Margolis patrolled the streets as a vice cop, his group rescued women as younger as 12 and 13.

One teen’s pimp would beat her with a wire coat hanger and make her sit in a bath of ice if she didn’t meet her nightly quotas, which may very well be dozens of males.

One other girl would hold a razor blade in her mouth and slice up males who threatened her or didn’t pay up.

One other intercourse employee modified pimps — a cardinal sin on “The Blade” — and the jilted former boss punished her by gunning down her Johns.

Little has modified since Margolis retired.

The Submit lately noticed girls on road corners all alongside Figueroa flagrantly beckoning to drivers and passersby — sporting subsequent to nothing regardless of the January chill.

They labored in broad daylight and into the night time. Behind them, strains of seedy hot-sheets motels stood open and prepared.

Officers have taken steps to crack down on pimps lately. Final February, the LAPD introduced {that a} statewide sting operation had bagged greater than 300 suspected traffickers.

In August, federal and native brokers arrested Figueroa Avenue queenpin Amaya Armstead, aka “Girl Duck,” and 10 of her lieutenants — who had allegedly been recruiting teen women from the foster system and forcing them to work on “The Blade.”

Armstead continues to be in federal custody with a trial date set for later this yr.

But, girls nonetheless brazenly stroll the streets of LA night time and day, pressured to promote their our bodies to Johns who both don’t know the implications of their actions, or don’t care.

“I knew what I used to be doing was unlawful,” Eddy recalled. “At the moment, I didn’t care, till I noticed what it was doing to me, till I noticed what it was doing to those girls.”

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