Iowa man pleads guilty in prostitution sting at Albert Lea hotel
Published 10:35 pm Thursday, May 25, 2017
A Sheffield, Iowa, man who was charged in connection with a prostitution sting conducted in late December by the Albert Lea Police Department pleaded guilty Wednesday in Freeborn County District Court.
Randall Richard Grilz, 65, pleaded guilty to two counts of gross misdemeanor prostitution in a public place.
Grilz and Kurt Allen Roderick, 58, of Wixom, Michigan, were charged separately after Albert Lea officers set up an undercover sex trafficking operation in December at a hotel in Albert Lea.
Court documents state an online advertisement was set up with a phone number listed, which rang to a decoy phone answered by law enforcement. Grilz called the phone number listed in the ad, and he arrived at a hotel room.
Court documents state two decoys told Grilz that one of them was only 17 and her services would cost extra. He reportedly placed $300 in an envelope on a nightstand, undressed and laid down naked on a bed before he was arrested.
In a Mirandized statement following the incident, Grilz reportedly admitted he had seen the ad and made the agreement with the decoys, but he said the younger girl never told him how old she was, and he denied hearing she was 17.
Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 10. Grilz is expected to be placed on probation, according to the Freeborn County Attorney’s Office. He was charged with felony engaging in, hiring or agreeing to hire a minor to engage in prostitution, but that charge was reduced.
Roderick is charged with one count of gross misdemeanor prostitution in a public place. A jury trial is scheduled to begin July 11, if the case has not been settled by then.