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San Jose Weekly Paper Pressured To Remove Escort Service Ads

SAN JOSE (KCBS) — A San Jose weekly newspaper is being pressured by community leaders to stop running advertisements for escort services.

The Metro is under fire for escort service ads both in the paper and on their website metroactive.com.

Santa Clara County prosecutor Chuck Gillingham is among those who said the newspaper is promoting the sexual exploitation of young boys and girls and the proliferation of prostitution in its classified ad section.

San Jose Weekly Paper Pressured To Remove Escort Service Ads

"The ads are making it very available and very obvious to those who would seek to utilize that type of service. Human trafficking in humans is a commodity that's different than other contraband where you sell it and you sell it once. This is something you sell over and over and over. It's being made readily available and notorious by this particular group," he said.

So far, the paper's CEO is refusing to remove the ads. Gillingham concedes that the paper is not breaking any laws by publishing them.

"It seems to me that there are things that are illegal and there are things that are okay and this is something that is legal, but not okay," Gillingham elaborated.

He went on to explain that "morally" it shouldn't be allowed to openly advertise what he said is in fact an illegal behavior.

The Metro newspaper did not respond to requests for comment by KCBS as of Wednesday afternoon.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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