BATON ROUGE - Police arrested six alleged prostitutes and a pimp during a Friday string operation focused in North Baton Rouge.

42-year-old Steven Stafford, of Holden, was booked on charges inciting prostitution and obscenity after he was taken into custody during the operation. Officers said Stafford was masturbating inside of his vehicle which was parked in front of a business in the 400 block of Roselawn at the time of his arrest.

Stafford is accused of “pimping” various women out for sex, according to the arrest report. He told officers that he was pimping the women due to the fact he was unable to work. Police reported arrests of prostitutes, ranging in age from 31 to as old as 52, during the operation. The following individuals were taken into custody:

-52-year-old Angela Simon
-48-year-old Edwina Coleman
-40-year-old Renee Blanks
-34-year-old Shaddrick Hughes
-33-year-old Hassan Fields
-31-year-old Jamie Kelly

Simon was booked on her 12th prostitution offense. It was Coleman’s third offense. Hughes, Blanks and Kelly were all booked for their third offenses.

Arrests were made on Florida Boulevard, Scenic Highway and Plank Road.