Brothel: Sugar Daddy Dating Sites Promote Illegal Prostitution

PAHRUMP, Nev.—Las Vegas-area legal brothel and sex resort Sheri’s Ranch posted a statement on its official blog denouncing “sugar dating” websites that are gaining popularity with college-aged women. These sites often facilitate sexual relationships between these young women and wealthy older men in exchange for financial compensation. The full statement can be found here. Jeremy Lemur, a spokesperson for Sheri’s Ranch, believes that sugar dating websites are the next phase in the evolution of illegal online prostitution, and that the FBI crackdown on the escort directory and online forum myredbook.com is causing the emergence of more sugar baby dating websites, and motivating pre-existing prostitution websites to rebrand themselves as sugar dating sites to avoid getting busted. “The courtesans and staff of Sheri’s Ranch are prostitution experts, so we know prostitution when we see it," Lemur said. "We’re concerned that sugar dating websites, platforms promoting prostitution and operating without interference from law enforcement, may one day negatively impact our legal prostitution business.”  The post specifically refutes statements made by SeekingArrangement.com stating that sugar dating is unrelated to prostitution. Lemur suggests that real-life incidents tell a different story, using alleged murderess Alix Tichelman, a Seeking Arrangement prostitute, as an example. “Alix Tichelman, the most notorious prostitute to use the Seeking Arrangement website, boasted online that she had over 200 clients. Tichelman was arrested for the murder of one of her sugar daddies, which says a lot about the ‘respect’ sugar babies have for their benefactors.” Lemur also states that there is a danger in not recognizing sugar dating websites for what they are: platforms that promote an illegitimate, unregulated sex industry.  “Without state and county regulation, there is an absence of rules and standards in the sex work industry, creating an environment that can too easily exploit young women, invite human trafficking, and allow for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases,” Lemur said. “The attempt to ‘sugar coat’ illegal prostitution through sugar baby dating sites is nothing more than a callous action taken by opportunistic, morally compromised entrepreneurs who appear to have found a loophole.” Located in Pahrump, Nevada, sixty miles west of Las Vegas, Sheri’s Ranch is one of Nevada’s full-service legal sex resorts. The Ranch was purchased by former Chicago homicide detective Chuck Lee in 2001 and was remodeled into a fantasyland of bungalows and specialty rooms with a variety of titillating themes. With a hotel and restaurant on the property, Lee and his staff have taken great care to maintain a resort playground with the clients’ safety, privacy, and satisfaction in mind.