An undercover police operation over the weekend led to the arrest of two North Carolina women on prostitution charges.
Rebecca Ann Payne, 24, 3326 Hampton Road, Raleigh, N.C., was arrested Saturday by Elizabethton Police Department Investigator John Bulla and charged with prostitution.
Shannon Jeanette Hill, 33, 1220 Ridge Haven Drive, Wendell, N.C., was arrested Saturday by Bulla and charged with promotion of prostitution.
The undercover operation targeted prostitution using an online advertisement promoting an escort service, said EPD Capt. Joy Shoun. Officers used the site to make contact with a female subject, later identified as Payne, who agreed to meet at a designated location in Elizabethton.
Payne met with an undercover officer, and made an agreement to perform sexual acts for an agreed price, Shoun said.
At that time, Shoun said officers detained Payne as well as Hill, who had driven Payne to the location to meet the undercover officer.
“Both subjects reside in North Carolina but frequently travel working as prostitutes,” Shoun said.
While speaking to officers, both women admitted to participating in prostitution, Bulla said.
“Payne admitted to being involved in prostitution since the age of 16,” he said in the warrant for her arrest. “She further admitted she has an existing warrant in Texas for prostitution.
“Hill admitted Payne and she travel from north Carolina in order to obtain money by prostitution.”
Both women are being held at the Carter County Detention Center under $5,000 bond each. They are scheduled to appear in Carter County General Sessions Court Dec. 23.