HOUSTON – The Houston Police charged 64 people, including several Indians with the intent to buy sex

According to HPD, in January the department's Vice Division opened a "modeling studio" in southwest Houston. Hundreds of potential customers contacted the studio with the intent to buy sex.

Officers were able to identify and charge 64 men who ultimately went to the location and agreed to purchase sex from undercover officers.

They were charged with prostitution, a Class B misdemeanor. 40 have been arrested, beginning Feb. 19, while twenty-four remain at large. If convicted, each face up to a year in jail and as much as a $2,000 fine.

Houston Chronicle reported that police placed an advertisement on an adult website offering sex with women, said Lt. Cathy Richards of the HPD Vice Division. A phone number was provided in the ad and when people contacted the bogus business they were given an address to a nondescript store front along with a suite number. There was no sign on the building or suite.

Once inside, the would-be customers were asked what they wanted and were able to chose from an assortment of women, Richards said. When an agreement was made for sexual contact and a price determined, police officers entered the fake studio, saying they were inspecting the business for proper permits. The customers were asked for identification and then allowed to leave. They were later arrested.

The ruse of permit inspection allowed HPD to continue the undercover operation for weeks without possible customers suspecting the studio was actually a police sting.

The operation was conducted in an effort to help curb sex-trafficking, which often involves underage girls and women who are forced into prostitution, said Capt. Dan Harris head of the HPD Vice Division. By targeting customers, so-called Johns, police hope to reduce the demand for the illegal sex-trade and protect women from exploitation.

"Prostitution is not a victimless crime," Harris said. "It fuels the sex-trafficking trade."