COPS STEP UP STING ON JOHNS SEPULVEDA STRIP TARGETED IN PROSTITUTION CRACKDOWN.

Byline: Josh Kleinbaum Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - A woman in tight blue jeans, a black shirt, a light green sweater and three-inch black heels stepped onto the Sepulveda Boulevard curb just north of Vose Street at 8:19 p.m. Saturday.

For two minutes, she strutted up the boulevard, a black purse tucked under her arm, pausing underneath a lamp post and a tree. In just three minutes, she hooked her first fish.

A gold Nissan Altima slowed in front of her, then turned into a parking lot behind her. The driver, a middle-aged man, rolled down his window, and the two talked for about 30 seconds. The woman turned and walked farther into the parking lot. The car followed.

When it stopped, three undercover police officers arrested the man on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute. His car, a fully-loaded 2005 Altima, was seized by police, and the city will move to confiscate it as permitted in a three-year-old city ordinance.

During a six-hour undercover operation Saturday night, the LAPD hoped to seize 10 cars and make even more arrests for solicitation of prostitution, and to send the message to the public that trolling for women on Sepulveda Boulevard will not be tolerated.

``People shouldn't be coming to Sepulveda in Van Nuys and Mission Hills looking for a prostitute,'' said Capt. James Miller, commanding officer of the Van Nuys area. ``We want to get it off the boulevard. It's been a long, long blight on Sepulveda Boulevard.''

Last year, the LAPD made 330 prostitution-related arrests in Van Nuys, and most of them came on Sepulveda Boulevard, Miller said. Residents often complain of being propositioned on the street, he said, and he hoped the threat of losing a car - which could be far more costly than a misdemeanor fine - would deter would-be johns from looking for prostitutes on Sepulveda.

``Women trying to go to the market can't just go to the market without someone stopping them,'' Miller said. ``It's because people think they can do that on Sepulveda.''

During the sting operation, undercover police officers posed as prostitutes. They never approached potential suspects - they didn't need to.

Johns like the Altima driver, whose name was not released by police, would come to them quickly. The undercover officers, who were wearing transmitters to record the conversations with the suspects, would make sure the suspect was looking to pay for a sexual act and see the money.

Then they'd tell the driver to pull around the corner to the back of the parking lot, where other officers made the arrest.

``You just go out there and you stand, and surprisingly, they flock to you,'' said Officer Ellen Gable, who posed as a prostitute during the sting. ``You do engage in conversation that's a little out of the ordinary, a little sensitive. A lot of them are married, you can see wedding rings, or you see a child's seat in the back of the car.''

Councilman Tony Cardenas, who accompanied police during part of the sting operation, said he was trying to get funding to run more vehicle seizure operations in the San Fernando Valley.

``We're trying to give ourselves more tools as a deterrent,'' Cardenas said. ``If that doesn't work, maybe Captain Miller and I can put on a wig and a boa. That would be a deterrent in itself.''

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josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com