Cop 'john' testifies at hearing for 'mom/daughter' hookers

The two women touted themselves on the Internet as a sexy mother-daughter team, and at their Northeast Philadelphia home they offered themselves up for sex - at a price, authorities said.

The ad on the craigslist Web site featured the mother, Traci Young, 38, and the daughter, Tami Smith, 22, sitting on a plush sectional couch in tank tops. It read in big, bold letters: "Make the right choice and call us."

An undercover cop, posing as a john, did just that.

In Municipal Court yesterday, that police officer, Donald Paxton, testified that he had made an appointment to go to the women's home on Ditman Street near Benner, in Wissinoming, in the early afternoon of Oct. 2.

In the basement, the two women negotiated to have sex with him, including oral sex, for $200, Paxton, according to Assistant District Attorney Richard Fuschino, who spoke after a preliminary hearing in the case.

Paxton testified that Smith told him that he would " 'start with mom and finish with me [the daughter],' " the prosecutor recounted.

At the end of the hearing, Judge Joseph J. O'Neill held Young for trial on all charges, including prostitution, criminal use of a communication facility and conspiracy.

Smith failed to show up at the hearing, held at the 8th Police District, Academy and Red Lion roads, in the Northeast, and O'Neill issued a bench warrant for her arrest.

Young told the judge that Smith was in drug rehab.

Also charged in the case was Young's boyfriend, David Riley, 27, who also had been in the house that day. Yesterday, the judge dismissed all charges against Riley, including prostitution, conspiracy and possession of marijuana, for lack of evidence.

Paxton, the prosecution's only witness yesterday, testified that when he went to the house he was met by Young, who led him to a basement, where she introduced him to Smith, the prosecutor recounted after the hearing. In the basement, the officer saw a mattress and a computer.

Afterward, Young went to a nearby store to get condoms, while Smith stayed behind.

Lt. Charles Green, of the City-Wide Vice Enforcement Unit, has said that Riley, who also lived in the house, accompanied Young to the store. After they returned, police arrested the two women. Police searched for Riley and found him in a crawl space in the bathroom with a small amount of marijuana, Green has said.

Fuschino said after yesterday's hearing that Paxton was not the officer who arrested Riley and was not allowed in court to testify about things he did not observe. He said that his office would decide whether it will seek to re-arrest Riley on his charges.

It was not clear yesterday whether Young and Smith are biologically mother and daughter.

Young and Smith were known in their neighborhood to have worked as strippers at Dangerous Curves, on Tacony Street near Comly, the Daily News has reported. The club closed over the summer.

All three defendants have been out on bail.