Clark County Sheriff Arrested By FBI In Prostitution Sting

UPDATED: The two-term Democratic sheriff of Clark County, Indiana, Danny Rodden, has been a bad boy according to the FBI. A federal grand jury in New Albany has indicted Rodden on charges of attempted evidence destruction and making false statements to FBI agents during an investigation of his relationship with a prostitute. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Sheriff Rodden is accused of providing law enforcement credentials to a prostitute last year so she could rent rooms at a Louisville hotel at government discounted rates. Rodden is accused of meeting the prostitute at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Louisville where he allegedly paid her $300 to perform oral sex. Rodden is not seeking re-election this year due to the state's constitutional term limits barring him from seeking a third consecutive term. Clark County Commissioners are huddling with their attorneys to determine how to proceed in handling Rodden's possible removal from office before the end of his term.

Last month, Boone Co. Sheriff Ken Campbell (R) was forced to step down due to his relationship with a prostitute. An Indianapolis Star report this evening cites a source as claiming the same woman involved in the investigation of Sheriff Campbell is at the center of the charges now brought against Sheriff Rodden. Campbell has still not been charged despite his resignation last month when law enforcement officials became aware of his relationship with the woman in question.

An interesting sidebar is a conversation I had last year with a source involved in the escort business after I questioned the practice of undercover Carmel police actually engaging in sex acts with prostitution targets before placing them under arrest. This source told me that undercover Indianapolis police had actually completed sex acts with an escort before arresting them. According to the source, the undercover officer would only engage in sex with the prostitution target if he was physically attracted to his target; otherwise, the arrest would be made as soon as an agreement had been reached to exchange sex for money.

Another law enforcement source contacted me after Indianapolis police busted up a high-end prostitution ring that was being operated out of the Sheraton Hotel at Keystone at the Crossing where johns were paying $550 an hour and up for the sexual services of very attractive escorts. The law enforcement official complained that very prominent persons in the Indianapolis community were known by police to be utilizing the services of these escorts, including one of Indianapolis' most prominent criminal defense attorneys, but none of the johns were arrested in the sting to protect these  high-profile clients from public embarrassment.