Residents of the Ohio trailer park, where San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York was arrested by an undercover officer in a sting operation, are not happy with the police. They feel like the police have used them as bait and painted them in a negative light because of the arrest.
On Monday, Wheat Hill Mobile Home Community in East Palestine, Ohio, gained attention after 46-year-old Jed York allegedly agreed to pay $160 for sex, only to find out the lady was an undercover police officer. He ended up pleading no contest to charges of disorderly behavior and possession of criminal tools.
After speaking with residents of the trailer park, the New York Post learned this wasn’t the first time the site had been used for a sting operation. They also said that Jed York’s arrest has damaged the trailer park’s reputation and that the notion that it is a prostitution hotspot is untrue. Families with kids and retirees make up the majority of the trailer park’s population.
The trailer park residents feel they are being unfairly labeled
According to Michelle Shater, a manager at the trailer park, police told them Jed York’s arrest was a “random stop.” However, documents that the New York Post obtained showed the opposite. According to the police report, they gave York a meeting place address at the mobile home park, but a fake lot number.
“We don’t deserve this,” one resident said. “This is a beautiful park. Now we’re being labeled as running prostitution and drug rings and stuff out of this trailer park.”
“Let’s be honest, ‘trailer park’ has a very bad stigma,” Tammy Semon, a Wheat Hill Mobile Home Community resident told the San Francisco Standard. “You can see with your eyes, this is not your stereotypical trailer park and that is the most hurtful part of it. All of a sudden we are trailer trash.”
Another resident of the area, Tom Leetch, had a question that many who followed the Jed York story were asking.
“You would think a person like that would have a personal jet and fly to Las Vegas where it’s legal,” he said. “When it came on the news, it made you think someone in that trailer park was a prostitute.”