A St. Petersburg woman was arrested last Wednesday on charges of prostitution after she offered herself to an undercover police officer. The woman offered her services to the cop for $5 and a Beanie Baby teddy bear.
St. Petersburg news station KRON reported 51-year-old Karen Robinson spotted a potential customer on the street, whom she then approached. She was completely unaware this everyday John was an undercover cop. After entering the vehicle around 11 p.m., Robinson began negotiating sex for a very unusual payment .
The affidavit reported she offered the undercover police officer oral sex in exchange for $5 and a Beanie Baby toy.
After the official offer was made, the undercover officer arrested Robinson on charges of prostitution and took her to the Pinellas County Jail. After being read her Miranda rights, Robinson denied she offered the officer her services for money and the Beanie Baby.
Initially, KRON stated it was “unclear if the officer had a Beanie Baby in his possession,” but eventually the St. Petersburg Police Department cleared up the mystery. HuffPost spoke with the police department who said a Beanie Baby was placed in the car “to make it look like it was a family vehicle.”
Police: Florida woman offered sex to undercover cop in exchange for Beanie Baby https://t.co/tCSF1wMDjP
— KRON4 News (@kron4news) October 29, 2017
The Smoking Gun reports Robinson was officially charged with a misdemeanor of prostitution, spent 14 hours in custody, and was released on her own recognizance Thursday. Robinson was also arrested earlier in the year for possession of drug paraphernalia and exposure of sexual organs.
What still remains unclear, is which particular Beanie Baby was being negotiated for. Some Beanie Baby toys from the nineties are worth thousands of dollars these days, a far cry from Robinson’s demand of $5. The Princess Beanie Baby, created shortly after Princess Diana’s death, can sell in the hundreds of thousands of dollars online if it has the right defects or filling.
The popular Ty toy line was launched in 1993 with just nine original Beanie Babies. Today, the line has over 2,000 different characters. Most toys in the line sell on eBay for around $4 to $10.
Let us know your thoughts on Robinson’s arrest in the comment section below.
[Featured Image by Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office]
