Seven people were arrested at an Aurora-area hotel in a police sting focusing on online prostitution.
All were arrested and charged with solicitation of sexual acts, police said in a release.
Police said the sting operation occurred overnight last Wednesday, after undercover investigators responded to ads in the erotic sections of Craigslist.org and Backpage.com.
The exact name and location of the hotel was not released, but police said it was cooperating with authorities.
Charged were: Gordon Luedtke, 48, of the 32W000 block of Church Hill Lane in Wayne, IL; Rafael Medrano (aka: Sandra Medrano), 34, of the 1100 block of Lebanon Street in Aurora; Kathleen Szarowicz, 23, of the 5600 block of 8th Street in Grandville, MI; Nicole Deuchler, 29, of the 1000 block of Fenton Street in Aurora; Victoria Clausen, 20, of the 200 block of Nippert Avenue in Romeoville; Heather Kroner, 21, of the 1900 block of West 28th Street in Van Buren, AR; and Wendy Negron, 34, of the 2500 block of South Finley Road in Lombard.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart last year called Craigslist the "single largest source of prostitution in the nation" and sued the site. A judge ultimately threw the suit out.
