Australian Owner Charged With Prostitution

[Rimmer]

Australian Owner Charged with Prostitution

PATTAYA: -- An Australian man and his Thai wife were arrested by undercover agents for opening a beer bar to sell sexual services. A Thai woman working for them was also arrested.

Pattaya, July 14, 2011[PDN]; Pol.Lt.Col. Noppon Kuladilok, Chonburi Immigration Police and his team arrested Mr Krek Johnston, 54, Australian national, his Thai wife, Mrs Yoanitta Johnston, 32, and Ms Pikun Soimi aged 25.

Full story and some pictures HERE

PATTAYA DAILY NEWS 2011-07-15

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[RabC]

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

[Thaddeus]

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

And what's the betting that they went out for a drink and light entertainment later.

[Exsexyman]

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

Indeed. Beneath contempt. Maybe next they will go to the beach road and pretend to hire a jet ski, then when they are asked to pay 50,000 baht for non existent damage, the boys in brown will jump out and arrest the scammers!

But i agree, the Aussie concerned was a bit naive, poaching girls from the bar across the road, which was probably owned by a policeman, selling beer and providing prostitutes for tourists! And after the hapless Aussie has parted with a nice wedge of dosh, the farang volunteer will get a little bit of it for his trouble. Wonder if they have a work permit! Wonder if they realise, or even care how much they are despised by the farang community here.

[FarangBuddha]

Wow...didn't he know that prostitution is illegal in Thailand

[janverbeem]

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

Indeed. Beneath contempt. Maybe next they will go to the beach road and pretend to hire a jet ski, then when they are asked to pay 50,000 baht for non existent damage, the boys in brown will jump out and arrest the scammers!

But i agree, the Aussie concerned was a bit naive, poaching girls from the bar across the road, which was probably owned by a policeman, selling beer and providing prostitutes for tourists! And after the hapless Aussie has parted with a nice wedge of dosh, the farang volunteer will get a little bit of it for his trouble. Wonder if they have a work permit! Wonder if they realise, or even care how much they are despised by the farang community here.

I actually wonder if those foreign rats live in Pattaya or if they are recruted far away from their operation target.

[rgs2001uk]

Takings must be pretty piss poor at his bar, dressed like a tramp.

Get some nicer looking girls,

Edited July 15, 2011 by Rimmer
Unnecessary and unkind

[gamini]

Surely don't you despise the farang pimps more, who come here and open bars and sell sex. They are the scum and beneath comtept. Any effort to get rid of them is appreciated by decent people.

e

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

Indeed. Beneath contempt. Maybe next they will go to the beach road and pretend to hire a jet ski, then when they are asked to pay 50,000 baht for non existent damage, the boys in brown will jump out and arrest the scammers!

But i agree, the Aussie concerned was a bit naive, poaching girls from the bar across the road, which was probably owned by a policeman, selling beer and providing prostitutes for tourists! And after the hapless Aussie has parted with a nice wedge of dosh, the farang volunteer will get a little bit of it for his trouble. Wonder if they have a work permit! Wonder if they realise, or even care how much they are despised by the farang community here.

[Exsexyman]

Surely don't you despise the farang pimps more, who come here and open bars and sell sex. They are the scum and beneath comtept. Any effort to get rid of them is appreciated by decent people.

e

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

Indeed. Beneath contempt. Maybe next they will go to the beach road and pretend to hire a jet ski, then when they are asked to pay 50,000 baht for non existent damage, the boys in brown will jump out and arrest the scammers!

But i agree, the Aussie concerned was a bit naive, poaching girls from the bar across the road, which was probably owned by a policeman, selling beer and providing prostitutes for tourists! And after the hapless Aussie has parted with a nice wedge of dosh, the farang volunteer will get a little bit of it for his trouble. Wonder if they have a work permit! Wonder if they realise, or even care how much they are despised by the farang community here.

An interesting point of view!. But the bottom line is this. Decent people don't like a snake in the grass. Are you a volunteer policeman by any chance? I think we should be told.

[somtampet]

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

Indeed. Beneath contempt. Maybe next they will go to the beach road and pretend to hire a jet ski, then when they are asked to pay 50,000 baht for non existent damage, the boys in brown will jump out and arrest the scammers!

But i agree, the Aussie concerned was a bit naive, poaching girls from the bar across the road, which was probably owned by a policeman, selling beer and providing prostitutes for tourists! And after the hapless Aussie has parted with a nice wedge of dosh, the farang volunteer will get a little bit of it for his trouble. Wonder if they have a work permit! Wonder if they realise, or even care how much they are despised by the farang community here.

I think u are a bit naive mate,dont come on here and talk hogwash,get your facts right.Not up to me to say what happened but u are about 1000,000 miles away from what realy happened.Why come on here and start assuming,u will get a rteputation of fairy tales and u will be despised by the farang community

[surangw]

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

And what's the betting that they went out for a drink and light entertainment later.

maybe the switched from customers to under cover when they were presented with the bill

[lung]

prostitution in pattaya... i can´t believe

[chops]

Comeon. All prostitution laws are absurd. You're not gonna get laid unless you pay a woman. It's like making a law that you aren't allowed to breath air!

Edited July 15, 2011 by chops

[Wallaby]

Surely don't you despise the farang pimps more, who come here and open bars and sell sex. They are the scum and beneath comtept. Any effort to get rid of them is appreciated by decent people.

No.

But why do you despise only the FARANG 'pimps'.

Edited July 15, 2011 by Wallaby

[GeorgeO]

Surely don't you despise the farang pimps more, who come here and open bars and sell sex. They are the scum and beneath comtept. Any effort to get rid of them is appreciated by decent people.

e

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

Indeed. Beneath contempt. Maybe next they will go to the beach road and pretend to hire a jet ski, then when they are asked to pay 50,000 baht for non existent damage, the boys in brown will jump out and arrest the scammers!

But i agree, the Aussie concerned was a bit naive, poaching girls from the bar across the road, which was probably owned by a policeman, selling beer and providing prostitutes for tourists! And after the hapless Aussie has parted with a nice wedge of dosh, the farang volunteer will get a little bit of it for his trouble. Wonder if they have a work permit! Wonder if they realise, or even care how much they are despised by the farang community here.

An interesting point of view!. But the bottom line is this. Decent people don't like a snake in the grass. Are you a volunteer policeman by any chance? I think we should be told.

All other points aside, doesn't this provide sufficient evidence that the Billabong Bar was also providing similar services, and that arrests should also be made there?

Then, extrapolating that to every other bar throughout the whole of Pattaya, does this not mean that there should be a fleet of buses going around picking up every owner and bar girl in every other bar? What kind of excuse do these other bars offer for the string of girls sitting out front? Are they there to serve beer, mop one's brow on a warm day, and wish you well as you go on your way?

I wouldn't mind any of this, that is, an attempt to clean up the image of Pattaya, if it were to be applied consistently across all bars, both foreign- and Thai-owned. To select one naive foreigner is ridiculous, and does nothing more than fuel the argument that there are two sets of rules.....

As a separate point, I can't help but wonder what might happen to an undercover Thai who used entrapment to cause trouble for a fellow Thai bar owner ...... the consequences are such that it's just not going to happen. However, we can always rely upon a snake from the West to do their dirty work on their behalf.

Edited July 15, 2011 by GeorgeO

[Wallaby]

Just imagine how much work they'll get when they visit soi 6

[Spoonman]

All other points aside, doesn't this provide sufficient evidence that the Billabong Bar was also providing similar services, and that arrests should also be made there?

Greg owns both the Billabong and Candy bars, story has it 2 weekends ago Irish Rovers bar and Kilkenny bar were both heavily fined when police raided them for being open on election weekend , allegedly the raid happened after Greg contacted the police to ask if he could open because other bars around him were open .

It's further alleged that someone unhappy at being fined (40,000 b was the figure mentioned ) has used a contact in immigration to get back at Greg .

Edited July 16, 2011 by Spoonman

[pauljones]

All other points aside, doesn't this provide sufficient evidence that the Billabong Bar was also providing similar services, and that arrests should also be made there?

Greg owns both the Billabong and Candy bars, story has it 2 weekends ago Irish Rovers bar and Kilkenny bar were both heavily fined when police raided them for being open on election weekend , allegedly the raid happened after Greg contacted the police to ask if he could open because other bars around him were open .

It's further alleged that someone unhappy at being fined (40,000 b was the figure mentioned ) has used a contact in immigration to get back at Greg .

That makes sense.

Certainly, the police would not enforce a law unless paid to do so.

[Tolley]

I suppose he should have known better.

Why anyone would want to get involved in this sort of business in Thailand is beyond me.

[NALAK]

Pattayas finest undercover farangs strike again.

Indeed. Beneath contempt. Maybe next they will go to the beach road and pretend to hire a jet ski, then when they are asked to pay 50,000 baht for non existent damage, the boys in brown will jump out and arrest the scammers!

But i agree, the Aussie concerned was a bit naive, poaching girls from the bar across the road, which was probably owned by a policeman, selling beer and providing prostitutes for tourists! And after the hapless Aussie has parted with a nice wedge of dosh, the farang volunteer will get a little bit of it for his trouble. Wonder if they have a work permit! Wonder if they realise, or even care how much they are despised by the farang community here.

I actually wonder if those foreign rats live in Pattaya or if they are recruted far away from their operation target.

live in Pattaya, some own bars and employ girls as working girls, also a very good source of how to get a 1 year retirement visa for 15k without having 800,000 in thai bank account. i declined and stuck with the legal way.

[soihok]

Thats a classic face Greg's pulling on the last photo.

A Rik Mayall face for sure.

[SantiSuk]

Dunno why many are so prissy. Personally after a lifetime of working as a staid professional and living a blameless comfortable life the thought of living on the edge (possible deportation, possible death) and owning a brothel in the world's most sinful city sounds quite appealing

[Spoonman]

live in Pattaya, some own bars and employ girls as working girls, also a very good source of how to get a 1 year retirement visa for 15k without having 800,000 in thai bank account. i declined and stuck with the legal way.

EH ?

Care to elaborate on this 15k retirement visa and the relevance it has with bars and their female employees ?

[petercool]

There are a number of non-Thai undercover agents and volunteers in law enforcement here in Pattaya apart from those who will do something in exchange for getting out of a situation - blackmail if you will.

You can have any opinion you like on the merits of all that.

However, none of that takes away the facts of a man working illegally without a work permit and engaging in prostitution and nowhere in the world is someone else getting away with it an excuse for what you did yourself.

[Tolley]

There are a number of non-Thai undercover agents and volunteers in law enforcement here in Pattaya apart from those who will do something in exchange for getting out of a situation - blackmail if you will.

You can have any opinion you like on the merits of all that.

However, none of that takes away the facts of a man working illegally without a work permit and engaging in prostitution and nowhere in the world is someone else getting away with it an excuse for what you did yourself.

This has to be a joke post yeah?

BTW I dont think he was engaging in prostitution...doubt he would have too many customers.

The law here was selectively enforced whilst the rest of the 3000 odd beer bars are doing the same thing yet nothing is being done.

Farangs that work for the Thais as so called undercover agents are just about as low as you can get. If they really had some sort of conscience they might go down to the beach and act as under cover agents in the jet ski scam!

[petercool]

As I said, you can have any opinion you want on anyone working in law enforcement. And, no, I wasn't joking.

Yes, I should have said involved in prostitution rather than engaging in it/

Finally, anyone caught in any illegal activity can be said to have been "selected" by those arresting him.

[surangw]

too bad the undercover guys are too chicken to go after the jet ski scum

[smokie36]

Dunno why many are so prissy. Personally after a lifetime of working as a staid professional and living a blameless comfortable life the thought of living on the edge (possible deportation, possible death) and owning a brothel in the world's most sinful city sounds quite appealing

Don't do it mate. I did and recently extracted myself from the same. Freshly showered and presentable again. Far less stressed as well.

[Wallaby]

UNDERCOVER????

Why would anyone need to be undercover to find prostitutes in bars on Pattaya. Do the police not know it happens?

Very selective of them, walk past a thousand bars doing the same to arrest this guy.

Start at soi 1 and work their way to Walking Street, should keep them busy for the next 50 years.

[Ianatlarge]

I am going to through my 2c worth in. I agree with most of what is said here. How foolish this was. Was anyone harmed? were any Thai nationals gunned down in the street? Be a hooker in the western sex industry is just about a good a job as 1/2 the women in Thailand can hope for. The jet ski scam would be a useful place for good police work to start, but lets be a little controversial, how about noting as a crime lack of childhood vaccinations in Thailand. What if the Thai government took responsibility for the abandoned children and single mothers in the country? There are lots of ways Thailand can be improved, arresting one odd ball Australian is not one of them.