Party time ended in jail time recently near Slidell for more than a dozen men from three states who sought out services from law enforcement females posing as prostitutes.

Operation “Party Time” netted 15 arrests, mostly truck drivers from Texas, Alabama and Louisiana, who approached the undercover females soliciting prostitution or drug deals, St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. George Bonnett said.

The arrest count trumps past stings of similar nature and “sends a signal that St. Tammany isn’t the place to look for this type of thing,” Bonnett said. From 9 p.m. Jan. 9 to 3 a.m. Jan. 10, two undercover deputies and a Slidell police officer strolled through nearby parking lots off Gause Boulevard and Interstate 10 in clothing that “didn’t lose their dignity, but was certainly not a uniform,” Bonnett said.

Many men approached the women to broker a deal, including one who tried to set up a rendezvous for a friend, Bonnett said.

When a deal was broached, the suspects were brought back to a hotel room near Gause Boulevard and I-10 to finalize the agreement. The room was wired with video and audio surveillance equipment.

From an adjacent room more than a dozen uniformed officers watched and waited. When money was exchanged, the officers entered the wired room through a common door to make arrests.

Arrested in the operation were: Ben Marlow, 28, 1755 W. FM 455, Anna, Texas, for possession of marijuana and possession of schedule I controlled dangerous substance; James Coppola, 48, 49 Cambridge Circle, Picayune, Miss. for solicitation for prostitution (bonded); Mark Flora, 39, 4162 Erie St., Houston, for solicitation for prostitution, resisting and officer, battery on a police officer, simple assault and simple battery (bonded); Kip Locklear, 43, 22 Dickerson Drive, Picayune, for solicitation for prostitution (bonded); Stephen Statten, 29, 936 County Road 4320, White Right, Texas, for solicitation for prostitution (bonded); Shawn Treadaway, 35, 101 Kelly Lane, Van Alstyne, Texas, for possession of marijuana and possession of a schedule I CDS (bonded); Timothy Logan, 48, 47 County Road 167, Bruce, Miss., for distribution of schedule I CDS, solicitation for prostitution and possession with intent to distribute schedule I CDS (bonded); Brian Mcinnis, 38, 8860 Half Mile Road, Irvington, Ala., principal to commission of a crime (bonded); John Wells, 32, 9710 Oak Isle Court, Irvington, Ala., for solicitation for prostitution (bonded); Wayne Shaw, 38, Route 3 Box 4760, Coffeeville, Miss., for distribution of schedule I CDS, possession with intent to distribute schedule I CDS and solicitation for prostitution(bonded); John Peterson, 28, 112 Dan Tripplett Road, Woodworth, for solicitation for prostitution (bonded); Jerry McKiven, 32, 622 Noojin St. SW, Attalla, Ala., for solicitation for prostitution (bonded) and Scottie Clifton, 33, 1038 Gene Whitt Road, Attalla, Ala., for solicitation for prostitution (bonded).