Mary Rhoden

CRANBERRY TWP — Police arrested a 55-year-old Ohio woman following a weekend prostitution sting in the township.

The suspect, Mary R. Rhoden of Steubenville, was already wanted by U.S. Marshals on a probation violation warrant, authorities said.

She is being held in the Butler County Prison without bail because of the Marshals' warrant.

Cranberry Township police during their investigation contacted by cell phone a woman listed in advertisements on a website. The ads “openly solicited sexual activity” in exchange for money, according to court documents.

An undercover officer set up a tryst with the woman, later identified as Rhoden, on Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn in the township. When they met, she advised that she “did not want to discuss price until later,” police said.

Rhoden was arrested. She had no identification on her and she gave two bogus names. Police, however, found her with a cell phone that they say she used to set up the “date” with the officer.

Additionally, police found her with a condom.

Rhoden waived her right to an attorney and spoke to police. She claimed she had turned to prostitution “to support a drug habit,” documents said.

Police took Rhoden to the station where she was eventually identified by a digital fingerprint scan.

Her criminal history, documents said, showed numerous previous arrests for prostitution and a warrant out of the U.S. Marshal's Service office.

The warrant, according to a Marshals' official, was issued in mid-September for a probation violation. She also was free on bail stemming from a drug case in Fresno, Calif.

District Judge Bill O'Donnell arraigned Rhoden on felony charges of promoting prostitution and criminal use of a communication facility, and misdemeanor charges of possessing an instrument of crime, prostitution and false identification to police.

Her preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 17.