Neighbors of the Forest Park Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library believe that someone is operating a prostitution ring from the children’s room of the library, despite denials by Baltimore police.
The January 10 Baltimore Sun reported that residents say one, and sometimes two, middle-aged men sit in the children’s section and monitor prostitutes through a large window. A board member of the Friends of the library told the newspaper that employees chased a man from the children’s section several times last summer, adding that the library is hiring a security guard. A radio talk-show caller questioned Police Commissioner Ronald L. Daniel’s statement that prostitution is no longer a problem in the area since police targeted the neighborhood.
Library spokeswoman Judy Cooper told the paper: “There was a guy, but [library workers] have not seen him in several months. He was there with a woman and a child acting like he was using the library.”
Posted January 17, 2000.