Mary Rhoden

An Ohio woman was paroled in Butler County Court on Tuesday, after being charged in a Cranberry Township prostitution sting in October.

Mary R. Rhoden, 55, of Steubenville, Ohio, was immediately paroled after being sentenced to six to 12 months in the Butler County Prison by Judge William Shaffer.

However, she will remain held on a federal detainer, after being wanted by U.S. Marshals on a probation violation warrant.

She was also ordered to pay court costs.

Rhoden previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor promoting prostitution and false identification to law enforcement on Feb. 13.

She was also initially charged with felony promoting prostitution, criminal use of a communications facility, misdemeanor possession of an instrument of crime and a summary vehicle permit charge after an incident on Oct. 14. The possession of an instrument of crime and the summary charge were withdrawn at the magisterial district judge level, and the remaining charges were later dismissed as part of the plea.

Rhoden was charged by Cranberry Township police following an investigation.

Police contacted a woman, who in an advertisement on a website “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, 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.

She was then arrested, and found in possession of the cell phone used to set up the “date,” as well as a condom.

At the time, she gave two false names, but was later identified using fingerprints.

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.

Her criminal history, documents said, showed numerous previous arrests for prostitution and a warrant out of the U.S. Marshal's Service office, which was issued in mid-September for a probation violation. She also was free on bail stemming from a drug case in Fresno, Calif.