Pennsylvania Cop Accepts Blowjob from Suspected Prostitute Before Busting Her for Prostitution
The attorney for a Pennsylvania woman who has been charged with prostitution is wondering if it was right for the undercover cop who busted her to have accepted a blowjob from his client prior to informing her that she was under arrest for prostitution.
Homestead police officer Ronald Depellegrin, 48, asked for and received permission to conduct a sting operation on 26-year-old Diana Gross after he spotted an ad for her escort services on Backpage.com (where she goes by "Beckie Dymon").
According to DePellegrin's own report, the two arranged to meet up at Gross's apartment for a half-hour session.
DePellegrin picked up some baby wipes and condoms at Gross's request and arrived shortly thereafter at her residence on Sarah Street.
After exchanging pleasantries — namely, each in turn asking if the other was a cop — Gross removed her shirt and asked DePellegrin to touch her breasts.
As he was complying, Gross reached down and grabbed DePellegrin's groin before getting "totally undressed" and telling DePellegrin to do the same.
"Beckie took a condom and placed it on me," DePellegrin wrote in his report. "Beckie started to perform oral sex on me when I said oh shit the cops are coming. Beckie stopped performing the act and looked out the window."
It was then that DePellegrin put his clothes back on and finally revealed to Gross that he was a detective.
Gross was subsequently taken into custody along with syringes, "paraphernalia for the ingestion of heroin," and an unspecified amount of money found hidden in her apartment.
Michael Waltman, Gross's lawyer, said DePellegrin's conduct could warrant a civil rights lawsuit.
But both the Homestead chief of police and District Attorney Stephen Zappala think DePellegrin did nothing wrong and said there were no plans to suspend him.
Back in 2010, following a similar incident, Zappala warned police officers who "engage in a sexual act" as part of a prostitution investigation that "this may constitute outrageous government conduct."
Waltman isn't giving up just yet, telling WPXI he is "willing to take the case to the federal level."
"One of the key issues," he told the Post-Gazette, "is that the police in this particular instance are engaging in the exact type of criminal activity that they're saying that they're trying to protect the community from."
