LAWRENCE — Police said a Winchester firefighter drove up from his Danvers home on Thursday in a black Nissan Murano, eager to pay $30 for sex.
But Robert James Joyce III, 35, was instead arrested after approaching an Essex County sheriff's deputy posing as a prostitute. He was charged with sexual conduct for a fee.
Joyce was one of 10 men arrested on sex solicitation charges as part of the Lawrence Police Department's annual quality-of-life crackdown dubbed "spring cleaning." Police also busted a pair of homeless women on prostitution charges.
"It is what is. When you do those kinds of sweeps, you don't know who you're going to arrest," Lawrence police Chief John Romero said on Thursday, reacting to the firefighter's arrest.
"We've got a number of people with a number of different occupations and all walks of life — professionals, city workers, state workers — we don't know who we're going to get. It runs the gamut," he said.
Joyce was the only North Shore man snared in the sting.
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