Punta Gorda resident, 31, faces prostitution charges

CHARLOTTE COUNTY - Punta Gorda police detectives have arrested one more person in connection with a month-long investigation into Internet-based prostitution in the city.

Police said that on Tuesday evening, they arrested Shane Darnell Boyett, 31, of the 1600 block of Yellow Pine Court in Punta Gorda, after seeing advertisements for "erotic services" on Craigslist.com, Travslist.org and Backpage.com.

Working with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, police phoned a number listed in the ads and met Boyett, according to a police department news release. Boyett agreed to exchange sex for money, they said, and was arrested.

Police arrested two people in connection with an Internet-prostitution run from a Punta Gorda Isles home earlier this week.

"We have been alarmed by the proliferation of criminal activity on social networking Internet sites in our area," said Acting Punta Gorda Police Chief Albert A. Arenal.

Boyett was charged with prostitution and maintaining a house of prostitution and released on $500 bail.