The New Castle police are continuing efforts to clear the city of prostitution. In a sting this week, officers made two arrests and found both women in possession of crack pipes, according to police reports. One of the women, 21-year-old Kellie Ann Mars, had been arrested in a sting last month. This is her second set of prostitution-related charges. Police arrested Mars about 1:15 a.m. Tuesday when she allegedly made an offer to an undercover officer. She rode with the officer in an unmarked car to a parking lot behind the Cascade Galleria where a marked cruiser was waiting with uniformed officers. She was then arrested. According to police, she said her friend, “Bob,” was giving her a ride to the city’s West Side. “Bob” was actually the undercover officer. The officer alleged Mars said she would charge $20 to $30 for various sexual favors. She is charged with prostitution and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was mailed a summons from the office of District Judge Melissa Amodie, who set her preliminary hearing for 9:30 a.m. July 26. Police also arrested 41-year-old Laina Winters, who also has a Butler County address. She was picked up about 2 a.m. Tuesday by an undercover officer. When he drove her to the lot behind the Galleria, uniformed officers arrested her, and she told them her friend, “Robbie Heart,” was giving her a ride home. “Robbie Heart” was an undercover officer in the sting. He said Winters offered him various sexual favors ranging from $40 to $60. She was placed in the Lawrence County jail. According to a jail spokesman, she was later transferred to Butler County jail, where she was wanted on three bench warrants. A charge of prostitution is pending against her, police said. She also faces identity theft-related charges from earlier this year. Police last month made six prostitution arrests during an undercover operation downtown and on the South Side. “This is part of our continuing effort to clean up the city and get the prostitutes and the drug dealers off the streets,” said Mayor Wayne Alexander. “We will contine to make more arrests throughout the summer.”

Debbie Wachter Morris writes for the New Castle (Pa.) News.