Six men arrested in Wake Forest prostitution sting

Wake Forest, N.C. — Wake Forest police arrested six men Wednesday during an undercover prostitution sting at a local hotel, including a world poker champion and a former attorney for Duke University lacrosse accuser Crystal Mangum.

The men responded to an advertisement on a website often used by prostitutes, police said.

Each man was charged with prostitution and attempted crimes against nature and received a $1,000 secured bond. Their first court appearances will be April 18:

Kevin Scott Konarzewski, 425 Barnhill Lane, Wake Forest – president of Complete Inventory Services
Barrett Lee Bennett, 4800 University Drive, Apt. 9C, Durham
Christopher Burell Shella, 2305 Vintage Hill Drive, Durham – managing director of Shella, Harris & Aus P.C. and former attorney for Mangum
Gregory Paul Raymer, 2622 Village Manor Way, Raleigh – professional poker player, best known for winning the 2004 World Series of Poker Main Event
Robert Hancock, 9828 San Remo Place, Wake Forest – vice president of sales and marketing at MobileSmith
Gerald Barham, 7941 Bud Morris Road, Wake Forest

Police said they conducted the operation "as a pre-emptive measure to combat the nationwide growing trend of prostitution."

“The locations prostitutes choose for this type of criminal activity vary and seldom remain the same for more than a couple of days at a time, which makes enforcement difficult,” Police Chief Jeffrey Leonard said in a statement.

“In this instance, we conducted the operation at a local hotel with its full cooperation," Leonard added, without identifying the hotel. "We are not aware of this type of criminal activity ever occurring at the hotel. Our officers selected the hotel for the undercover operation at random."

Leonard stressed that no hotel guests were at risk during the operation and no prostitutes were on the hotel premises.

Raymer's attorney issued a statement Friday afternoon, saying, "Mr. Raymer is very sorry for this lapse in judgment. He regrets deeply the pain he has caused his family, friends and fans. Mr. Raymer is grateful for the many expressions of support he has received."

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Latest Comments

I agree with iloveyourpost. This is a little too harsh. If they're gonna lock someone in a pillory and throw tomatoes at them, why not start with real criminals, or, at least, convicted drunk drivers? At least these six look like they pay taxes.

UNCRules123
March 25, 2013 12:45 p.m.

Lightfoot,you are entitled to your oppinion, but you are wrong on the bait car criticizm. I wonder if people really know what entrapment is? When you have a rash of cars being stolen and set a bait car out and a few get arrested, then the reports of stolen cars go down..I think it worked, but that is just my opinion.

didisaythat
March 21, 2013 5:15 p.m.

So I guess that Wake Forest is a better place to live now when those six terrible men have been taken off the street and been humiliated. Personally I would rather see killers, drug dealers, thieves, rapists and child molesters getting caught in stings and arrested.

iloveyourepost
March 21, 2013 10:26 a.m.

"When will people learn that this is illegal here. If they must, go to Europe." - lwe1967

Or take a cheaper trip to Nevada. Take in a show and a, uh, what rhymes with "show"? :)

Lightfoot3
March 18, 2013 10:52 a.m.

Entrapping people in victim-less crimes with a fake prostitution scam? What a waste of time, taxpayer money, and resources. There's not enough real crime out there for them to fight, so they create their own virtual crimes to entice people in? Legalize prostitution and regulate/tax it. Cops should be out catching REAL criminals, not trying to create their own via prostitute sting operations.

The same goes toward those bait car scams. They can't catch the real car thieves, so they setup a bait car to entice people to steal it so they can make an arrest. Another pathetic waste of money.

Lightfoot3
March 18, 2013 10:39 a.m.