The Fayetteville Police Department arrested a woman on Wednesday (July 9) on suspicion of promoting prostitution, but they are still seeking a male suspect in the case, officials say.
Sherwanda I. Wells, 35, of Fayetteville was arrested after police recovered a 16-year-old girl that they found advertised for prostitution online at Backpage.com, the report states.
The teenager identified Wells and her husband Doncouri, as the people who posted her ad to the website, according to the report.
Police sent a subpoena to the owners of the website and found the username for the ads belonged to both of the suspects, the report states.
In an interview after she was arrested, Wells said that the ad she purchased would show up as if it were posted from her phone, and the credit card used to pay for the ad would probably return to her as well, according to the report.
Wells said she was not actually “pimping” the girls. She was just assisting in their ads being posted to the website. Wells said she provided her phone and credit card for the transaction and knew they were being posted to Backpage.com, the report states.
Wells was booked into the Washington County Detention Center, and she faces a charge of first-degree promoting prostitution, according to the report.
Her first hearing is scheduled for Friday (July 11), according to the jail’s intake report.
