Abbeville police charge five women with prostitution: God tells man to hang out by church bathroom

One Abbeville hotel decided it did not want prostitution taking place in its rooms, so it contacted the Abbeville Police Department to stop it.

On Saturday, the Abbeville police set up a sting to try to lure prostitutes from out of the parish to this certain hotel. It began at 8 p.m. on Saturday and ended at 4 a.m. the next morning.

Undercover policemen called a certain number requesting a girl be sent to the hotel. Throughout the night, a total of five women came and solicited sex for money. When that occurred, they were arrested by the undercover officer.

The ladies of the night charged anywhere from $250 to $450.

Arrested were Rita Spencer, Raquela Salinas of Baton Rouge, Jashel McMillian of Baton Rouge, Cenica Portails of Lafayette and Jennifer Rivers of Lafayette.

Their bond was set at $500 each, and each bonded out that night.

Abbeville Police Chief Tony Hardy said he does not want prostitution in his city, and he hopes this sting will send a message to other prostitutes who think they can come to Abbeville for work. He also would like to thank the hotel owner who called the police to inform them of the problem.

Earlier in the week, the Abbeville police were called to a church in Abbeville where the pastor advised the police that a white male was acting suspiciously around his church. The Abbeville Police Call List states that Joshua James Hebert was observed hanging out around the men’s bathroom and advised the church staff that “God had told him to stand there” according to the police call list. As stated on the call list, Hebert wanted to assist the church with its vacation bible school for children. The church learned, according to the Abbeville call list, that Joshua James Hebert is a registered sex offender, based on what he wrote on his application. The call list said he “wanted to photograph and work with children.”

The pastor and police department laid out security measures in case Hebert returned to the church, the call list said.

The next day, after dealing with the church and Joshua James Hebert, the Abbeville police were called to investigate the theft a rabbit valued at $25.

The police call list notes that someone living on Charity Street called the police because someone took a rabbit from a cage in his yard. The police officers investigated the scene and talked to neighbors, who did say they saw someone looking at the rabbit cages.

Stolen was a brown rabbit.