SALINE CO. (by way of McCracken County, Ky.)—A strange case in Paducah, Kentucky developed into something even more strange after a Saline County man’s face didn’t coincide with the name listed on an arrest in mid-September.
Harrisburg residents were stunned—but many say they were not surprised—when the face of well-known resident Devin Hankins, 44, appeared on their television screens for nightly newscasts about a prostitution sting that occurred in McCracken County, Kentucky.
The odd thing that Harrisburg residents (and indeed, many across Saline and Williamson counties) noted was that the name listed with Hankins’ mug was not “Hankins,” but was instead, “Hopkins.”
A considerable amount of confusion ensued and an inordinately large number of viewers turned to Disclosure to sort the matter out.
Disclosure was able to make contact with McCracken County over several days’ time, and alerted authorities there to the situation, but as of press time (September 28), it didn’t appear that McCracken County knew exactly what had happened, either…as well as what they were going to do in order to rectify the situation.
Prostitution ‘talk’
McCracken County explained to Disclosure that they had had a considerable amount of information come in that there was ongoing prostitution in and around Paducah, and that many of those prostituting themselves were using social networking sites and other forms of advertising regarding “escort services” (“call girls,” aka hookers) to offer themselves for sex for money to whomever was willing.
Authorities said that when they get that kind of “talk,” the county—with Paducah, a large city for western Kentucky, being a hub of that kind of activity—gets proactive: they organize a sting and set about making arrests to show that this kind of thing won’t be tolerated in their midst.
Under this circumstance, McCracken put out advertisements on a particular, undisclosed website for an escort service available at a particular number.
Waiting to pick up the phone at that number was a female McCracken County detective, who posed as the call girl and took the details from the man on the other end of the line, complete with meetup date and time, location, likes and dislikes of specific sex acts, and of course, what the cost of it all would be.
Then McCracken County authorities would be on-hand to meet the horny men, and affect the arrest at that point.
The arrests
McCracken County detective Ryan Norman told Disclosure that within 30 minutes of the ad being posted, there were several calls and texts from people seeking their prostitute and naming their price.
Without listing where the arrests were made, Norman advised that on Wednesday, Sept. 17, four men and one woman were arrested: The men had made arrangements to actually pay the “prostitute”; the woman had agreed to having sex for money with an undisclosed undercover detective.
Then, on Thursday, Sept. 18, more arrests were made.
In all, those arrested for Solicitation of Prostitution were:
Bryan Rodgers, 45 of Paducah; Patrick Massa, 46 of LaCenter; Kentrell Thomas, 24, of Clinton; Aaron Storey, 41, of Bardwell; Michael Foster, 21, of Murray; Phillip Wyatt Jr., 28, of Kevil; and Joel Brindley, 47, of Paducah, all of those in Kentucky towns.
From Tennessee, authorities arrested Brian Northern, 34, of Jackson, and Danny Underwood, 40, of Puryear.
From Illinois, authorities arrested Jeffrey Webb, 59, of Anna; Joseph Uhls, 34, of Sesser; and the man listed as Devin Hopkins, 44, of Harrisburg.
A Murray, Kentucky woman, Michelle Bowland, 40, was also arrested for prostitution.
Authorities seized money, drugs, sex paraphernalia/toys and cell phones from those who had entered into an agreement for sex for money.
So…what happened?
It’s highly possible authorities didn’t check the cell phones for accuracy against the names; hence the viability of a misunderstanding when it came to “Hopkins” versus “Hankins.”
But many in Saline County weren’t convinced. They believed that it was a possibility the Harrisburg businessman, Hankins, had told authorities a fake name—just close enough to his real name, but looking quite different in print—in order to offset the embarrassment of discovery back on home grounds.
Disclosure presented the whole thing to Detective Norman on Wednesday, Sept. 4, and he seemed just as flummoxed as everyone else.
He did not go into detail over how names/identities were collected, but said that it was entirely possible that someone in the sheriff’s department had made a typo that wasn’t corrected…or that Hankins had provided a fake name.
In the case of the latter, Norman said, that might entail further charges against the Harrisburg man.
Loves the ladies
As of press time, Disclosure had not heard back from Norman or anyone else in McCracken County regarding the matter.
However, many had come to the defense of Hankins, including some platonic friends as well as ex-“female friends,” who advised material along the lines that the man was harmless, the situation was probably a misunderstanding (at least as regards the name confusion), and that “Devin just loves the ladies” and “sometimes he has a problem with that.”
Many told Disclosure that Hankins is a wonderful singer and has an incredible talent for entertaining, and has been a sought-after performer for various charitable gigs that organizations across the Little Egypt region of Southern Illinois hold annually.
Disclosure was able to obtain Hankins’ cell phone number from a couple of the lady friends, but was unable to reach him as of press time; McCracken County authorities advised that the cases are moving through the court system.