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Sitting on a hotel room bed, many of them in tears, 11 women under arrest for suspicion of prostitution looked past questioning detectives and stared blankly outside at the flashing casino lights of downtown Reno.

The women, ages 18 to 42, said they had thought advertising for sex on the Internet was simpler, safer and more profitable than street walking, and less visible to the police.

The women arrested in the Street Enforcement Team sting had all used Craigslist.com to post lewd photos of themselves and their body measurements, along with a phone number and promises of sexual activities for rates up to $500.

"This is just a new avenue to advertise for prostitution," Sgt. Dave Evans, commander of the regional Street Enforcement Team, said.

Detectives investigating the new high-tech trend in an old low-tech profession also arrested one suspected pimp during a sting Thursday and Friday in downtown Reno. The effort followed five arrests in April in Sparks for meetings also arranged on the Internet.

Police around the country in the past several months have been targeting the use of Craigslist.com by prostitutes and pimps. Last month, Washington County, Ore., deputies arrested a 34-year-old woman who had been using Craig's List for some time to arrange visits at her home, and three women in Salem, Ore., and five in the Long Island, N.Y. area were arrested. In May, police in the Seattle area arrested five women and a 17-year-old girl.

"It's like the drug criminals," Evans said. "We adapt to new trends in street drug dealing and we are adapting to this prostitution trend, too. It's finally catching on here in Reno."

Many of the women arrested last week were from outside the Reno area and advertised they would be in town for the weekend only. Prostitution is a misdemeanor offense. The pimp was booked on suspicion of pandering, a felony punishable by one to four years in prison.

Craig's List is used by millions searching for roommates, homes and automobiles and is free to people posting and browsing ads. Prostitutes post ads under the "erotic services" category in multiple cities, working a track from Oregon to Las Vegas, through the San Francisco Bay Area and Reno, Evans said.

Detectives often have targeted prostitutes who work along the notorious Fourth Street corridor near downtown Reno and the men who hire them. This year, they added online solicitation.

"Using the Internet has become big in Reno the last few months," Evans said, adding upcoming special events like Hot August Nights will draw prostitutes to use the online ads.

"Our approach is attacking the hotel meetings as well as addressing the street prostitution," Evans said. "They're still going to be in town walking around in the tourist parts of town looking for business."

The women make appointments through e-mail, Instant Messaging or cell phones and usually meet customers at hotels, a home or some other designated location.

Cell phones buzzed as the women sat on a bed and talked to detectives, begging them to let them answer the call. They cried and pleaded not to be jailed, promising they would go home and never prostitute again. Many had previous prostitution arrests.

Brandi Marie Sparks, 28, known as Paris, is from Portland, Ore. She told detectives she was in Reno with her sister for the weekend and would not have been in the hotel room had an undercover detective posing as a customer not called. The $300 "donation" she told the detective to bring was on a night stand when detectives rushed inside and told her she was under arrest.

They noted the "Daddy's Girl" tattoo on her back and learned she was a stripper who had been arrested for street prostitution at least six other times in Las Vegas.

When Monique Marie Lopez, known as "Jazzy," of Sparks was arrested Friday night, the 21-year-old asked, "Can I call my mom?"

Police said no.

"You guys don't give no warnings or nothing," she said.