Undercover prostitution sting nets 5

As part of a continued effort to crack down on illegal escort services, Newport Beach recently conducted a sting at a Newport Beach hotel to try to catch people offering sex for money and ended up arresting five, including one 60-year-old woman, police said.

On Thursday, Newport Beach detectives set up a prostitution sting operation inside The Island Hotel Newport Beach at Fashion Island where they posed as customers for women who advertised as escorts out of Newport Beach, said Sgt. Evan Sailor.

There, authorities in another room recorded each incident as the undercover officer exchanged money with the escort in exchange for touching or agreeing to sexual acts, Sailor said.

Police arrested five women between 6:40 and 10:20 p.m. Thursday night: Erin Sirkis, 26, Memphis, Tenn.; Shirley Goemaat, 60, San Clemente; Tiffany Lofton, 20, San Diego; Ernestina Medrano, 45, Garden Grove; and Victoria Campos, 20, Garden Grove.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at joseph.serna@latimes.com.