D.A.: Six nabbed in King of Prussia prostitution sting

KING OF PRUSSIA Concerned about the sex trade at motels and hotels around King of Prussia, police set up an undercover sting and arrested six men for patronizing prostitutes, authorities said Monday.

"This particular initiative is one that you might typically refer to as a 'john sting,' " Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.

Upper Merion police and the Montgomery County Detective Bureau, part of Ferman's office, placed an advertisement on an unnamed website offering prostitution services Friday. The ad led to "hundreds" of texts and phone calls, prosecutors said, and meetings arranged with the would-be johns.

The suspects were arrested after arriving at designated sites and meeting with an undercover officer who posed as a prostitute.

Arrested were Sunil Shantilal Jagani, 41, of Malvern; Andrew H. Kim, 46, of Willow Grove; Scott Elliott Konefsky, 50, of Royersford; Lalatendu Mahapatra, 28, of North Wales; Jason Daniel Schenck, 24, of Philadelphia; and Eric D. Zettle, 44, of Norristown, said the District Attorney's Office and Upper Merion police.

Konefsky also was charged with a felony count of carrying a firearm without a license, according to court documents. The firearm was a .25-caliber handgun, investigators said, that he had when he met with the undercover officer.

The arrests were part of a joint operation announced Feb. 21 by the District Attorney's Office and Upper Merion police to target sex trafficking and prostitution in the area. The county also is working with Montgomery Township police in a similar effort centered on Montgomeryville.

Police in both communities have seen increases in the commercial sex industry at local hotels and motels, Ferman said.

“This is the first step in that initiative,” Ferman said. “I would expect there will be more operations.”