"Instead of going after the prostitutes, we went after the prostitutes' customers," Capt. Gerald Matsunaga, commander of the Maui police Vice Division, told The Maui News.

The investigation involved an undercover female police officer who stood in public areas late at night in Wailuku and Lahaina, where she was approached and asked for sexual favors in exchange for money.

During the sting conducted on the weekend of Sept. 7-9 in Wailuku, nine men were arrested and each was charged with one count of prostitution — including six Wailuku residents, two from Kahului and one who gave no address.

The same type of "reverse operation" was conducted near a Lahaina park this past weekend and resulted in arrests of three Lahaina residents, including two 22-year-old men.

The oldest arrested was a 52-year-old Wailuku resident. All of the men charged in the investigation posted $200 bail in what Matsunaga called the "first of its kind" prostitution arrests in Maui County.

"We don't have a huge prostitution problem here, but we just wanted to address the 'johns,' or the customers. ... Hopefully, it will curtail the prostitution," Matsunaga said.

He said arrests against prostitutes soliciting customers have been made in the past; however, this particular investigation concentrated on customers. It's possible that future stings could target suspected prostitutes, Matsunaga said.

Matsunaga said police plan to have more prostitution stings aimed at customers. He said in most of these cases, the defendants enter guilty pleas to avoid further embarrassment of going to trial when charged with the petty misdemeanor.

"Hopefully that's what will happen here, and again maybe we can curtail the prostitution that's going on," Matsunaga said.

A person convicted of committing the offense of prostitution for the first time in Hawaii faces a mandatory fine of $500 and the possibility of probation or being ordered to spend up to 30 days in jail. If a defendant defaults on paying the fine, he could be ordered to perform community service.