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When former El Monte city manager Jim Mussenden was arrested in a prostitution sting earlier this month in Pomona, he was not alone. Seventeen other men were cited in the same bust, ranging in age from 21 to 61.

And dozens of other men have been arrested in similar stings this year throughout the San Gabriel Valley, officials said.

"You find people from all walks of life - married people, young people, elderly people, ministers," El Monte Police Chief Tom Armstrong said.

So what brought Mussenden and others to the strip of East Holt Avenue known as a hotbed for prostitutes?

Despite repeated phone calls and visits to his Glendora home, Mussenden, who resigned his job as El Monte city manager last week refused to comment. Prosecutors have yet to charge him in the case.

Experts say the reasons vary.

Some men are excited by the illicit risky behavior of prostitution; others like the consumer-oriented and simple transaction of meeting sexual needs through purchase; others say they have difficulties getting involved in traditional relationships; and still others are looking for a different kind of sex than they can normally find, according to a study conducted by sociologist Martin Monto for the U.S. Department of Justice.

But Janet Lever, a Cal State LA sociologist who specializes in the social consequences of human sexuality, says the reason is more simple.

"It's not about the sex act. It's really

about creating variety. They usually do the same acts as they do with their wife or partner. Secondarily it's about getting more sex," Lever said.

Two-thirds of men wish they were getting more sex with their partner, while one-third of women do, Lever said. And prostitution provides an outlet for more sex that many men perceive as safer and less complicated than having an affair.

"It is very transactional. It is a clear contract. They say, `I'm paying someone for a sex act. It's on my own terms completely,"' agreed psychologist Mary Andres, an associate professor at USC. "Understanding that is important, particularly if you are looking at men who have a lot of power in their life. They are always in situations where things feel unfinished, there are always bigger projects, deadlines looming, budgets... so they can look at going to a prostitute as a very efficient transaction."

Men who use prostitutes don't have to worry about the complexities of reciprocity that a relationship requires, Andres added.

From former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to Fox News commentator Dick Morris to Mussenden - it can seem like prostitution use is more common among public figures in positions of authority, though whether this perception is reality is difficult to tell, Lever said.

"It certainly seems like these guys show a great deal of arrogance... and they have a lot more at stake than the average joe schmoe, which shows they are either delusional that they won't get caught or they are truly driven for this act," Lever said. "Joe schmoe does it too, and he may be sacrificing his marriage, but not his career."

The demographics of men who use prostitutes is fairly diverse.

Monto's study surveyed 1,300 men participating in intervention programs after being arrested while trying to hire prostitutes.

Seventy-two percent of the men had attended some college. They ranged in age from 18 to 84, with an average age of 38. Just over 40 percent reported being married, compared with 56 percent of the population as a whole. Only 38 percent said they were "very happy" in their marriage, compared with 60 percent nationally.

It's difficult to know for sure how many men use prostitutes, since many who have won't admit it. The number has certainly dropped significantly since the 1960s, according to Lever.

"It's not like one out of five anymore... It was a lot higher when women weren't giving it away... when women were trying to be virtuous," Lever said.

The National Health and Social Life Survey, conducted in 1992 through the University of Chicago, found about 16 percent of men in the United States had ever visited a prostitute, and about .6 percent of men visit a prostitute each year.

But a more recent British study showed the number of men who use prostitutes has increased in the last decade.

According to the study in the British Medical Journal, the number of British men who paid for heterosexual sex increased from approximately 1 out of 20 in 1990 to nearly 1 out of 10 in 2000.

"There is better marketing for the sex trade than their used to be. Craigslist, the Internet, have made it a lot easier. Men who wouldn't have necessarily known how to access prostitutes, sex workers, it's a lot easier to figure out now," Andres said.

The fact that Mussenden used a street prostitute is slightly unusual, Andres said.

"Eddie Murphy is the last person we heard of getting a prostitute on the street," she said. "Either he was very naive, and it was an earlier kind of visit and he hadn't done it a lot before - it's just not the smartest place to pick up someone - or it could be that he is spiraling out of control. It's like someone addicted to drugs. You have your regular dealer, and if your regular dealer is out, you might end up going out and looking on the streets. So it could be either end of the spectrum."

Men arrested for trying to hire street prostitutes appear to be less experienced, according to Monto's study.

But Lever said some men might be particularly attracted to street prostitutes.

"The risk is one of the things that men find appealing. When you are with a street prostitute, you really might be setting yourself up for robbery, or its the sense that you are going down in social class, you are taking a greater risk. It is also cheaper," she said.

For years, efforts to reduce prostitution were directed at the prostitutes - only about 10 percent of prostitution-related arrests consist of the users, according to Monto. For both men and women, prostitution is a misdemeanor.

But in the past decade, programs directed at men who use prostitutes have emerged. First-time offenders who agree to attend prostitution workshops, known as John Schools, have the charges dropped. San Francisco's First Offender Prostitution Program (FOPP), has become a national model, providing prostitute users with information about the harm prostitution does to them, the women they hire and the communities they live in. A similar program was recently started in Los Angeles.

Other cities have tried to address the demand side by shaming men who use prostitutes. They publish the names of men who are busted soliciting prostitutes on the Internet or on billboards, sometimes with their arrest photos.

Armstrong doesn't believe in such tactics.

"There is more to the issue than just the man. It's his family, his children, his wife. I take the position I don't want to victimize some 5th grader," Armstrong said.

Armstrong said El Monte has seen prostitution rates decline in the past five to seven years. The department held proactive stings, in much the same way Pomona has been on Holt.

Still, prostitutes can still be found working city streets, particularly the area on Garvey Boulevard between Santa Anita Avenue and Peck Road.

"Why do men go to prostitutes?" he asked. "We always try to find reasons for things. The biggest reason is personal accountability and character. Individuals make decisions, and sometimes those decisions are for the rest of their lives."

rebecca.kimitch@sgvn.com

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