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Police Arrest Prostitute Who Reported a Client Robbed Her of $2K, NYPD Says

By Maya Rajamani | August 8, 2016 6:10pm
 The Manhattan at Times Square Hotel at 790 Seventh Ave.
The Manhattan at Times Square Hotel at 790 Seventh Ave.
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DNAinfo/Maya Rajamani

TIMES SQUARE — A prostitute was arrested after she told police a clients handcuffed her and robbed her of $2,000 in cash and her belongings, the NYPD said.

The 22-year-old woman, from California, told police she’d agreed to meet with the approximately 45-year-old male client after he contacted her through an ad she posted on the classified-ad site Backpage.com.

She booked a room at The Manhattan at Times Square Hotel at 790 Seventh Ave., at the corner of West 51st Street, and met the man there around 4 p.m. Saturday, police said.

At some point after the man paid her $190, he pulled out a police shield, claimed he was an officer and handcuffed her with fake cuffs, the NYPD said.

He took his $190 off the hotel room dresser, swiped $2,000 in cash from the woman’s luggage and fled the hotel, police said. He also took the woman’s $1,000 iPad Mini, a $40 backpack and a $100 MetroPCS phone, the NYPD said.

The woman told police she hadn’t felt “threatened or forced to comply” with the man, but said she “felt as if she [were] part of a ruse to steal her property,” the NYPD said.

Police arrested the woman and charged her with prostitution, according to a police report.

However, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office declined to prosecute the case, as the woman appeared to have been a crime victim, a DA spokeswoman said.

The man had not been arrested as of Monday.

A representative for The Manhattan at Times Square Hotel did not immediately respond to request for comment on Monday.