Woman sentenced for 14th prostitution conviction
Aug. 12—WILKES-BARRE — A vehicle crash when Hope Lynn Remus was a teenager started a downward trend leading to a drug addiction and taking to the streets, her attorney said Thursday.
Remus, 50, of South Welles Street, Wilkes-Barre, appeared before Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. to be sentenced on a prostitution charge — her 14th conviction for prostitution dating back to the mid-1990s.
Wilkes-Barre police charged Remus in August 2018 during an undercover prostitution sting in the area of Academy and South Main streets.
Remus approached an undercover officer and offered to perform a sex act for cash, court records say.
When Remus entered the vehicle, the undercover officer identified himself as a police officer.
Remus pled guilty March 14 to prostitution but failed to appear for her sentencing hearing May 5.
She was captured June 5 and jailed at the county correctional facility.
Her attorney, Stephanie T. Fernandes, said Remus recently lost a family member as a reason she missed her sentencing hearing.
When she was jailed in June, Fernandes said Remus weighed 95 pounds but is doing much better.
Sklarosky noted most of Remus' criminal history involved "self-destruction" type offenses.
Remus was sentenced to nine-months to two years in jail at the county correctional facility. She was given credit for 68 days time served and ordered by Sklarosky to perform 25 hours of community service.
Court records say Remus has 13 prostitution related convictions from 1997 through 2003.
