Add The California Post on Google The detective who took down San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York for allegedly trying to score a prostitute for just $140 has built a reputation as a prolific prostitution-sting cop.
Daniel Haueter, an East Palestine Police Department detective working for the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force over the weekend, is a trap-setting agent who specializes in snaring “especially repugnant creatures,” according to an Ohio Attorney General newsletter released in 2024.
“Catching rats and other vermin starts with using the right bait,” the newsletter stated, “and when Detective Dan Haueter sets the trap, they come scurrying out of the shadows.”
York responded to an undercover ad Haueter and team had posted on “a known prostitution website” Sunday, and agreed to fork over $140 for sex with a woman, a Columbiana County Municipal Court filing stated.
When York showed up to a trailer park in East Palestine to meet the alleged woman, Haueter took him into custody when he “was found to have in his possession his cellular device which was used to arrange the criminal act,” according to the filing.
The Ohio Attorney General’s newsletter made it clear Haueter has used similar tactics to lock up others in the past.
“The bait they’re most drawn to are ads that Haueter posts on known prostitution websites — specifically, ads that appear to be posted by a mom offering herself and her underage daughter for sex,” the 2024 newsletter stated.
“What usually follows is an exchange of messages with interested men that concludes with a meeting time and place. When the dupe shows up — and it’s always a guy — Haueter or his fellow officers are there to arrest him.”
A 2023 National Transportation Safety Board report stated Haueter has been in the law enforcement field for over three decades and has been working to prevent internet sex crimes since 2004.
Haueter boasted in the Ohio Attorney General newsletter that his undercover operations have led to the arrests of criminals both in and out of state.
“We arrested a guy recently who drove two hours from Erie,” Haueter said. “And we got a guy from upstate New York who was on his way to Akron for a Porsche festival. He literally made a detour because he said he’d always fantasized about a mom and daughter.”
A message seeking comment from Haueter on Monday was not returned.
York was charged with one count of engaging in prostitution and one count of possessing criminal tools following his arrest. On Monday, he pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct as well as no contest to the count of possessing criminal tools, court records show.
He was sentenced to one day in jail, though he was given credit for time served. He was also ordered to pay $1,150 in fines.
York has been married to Danielle Belluomini since 2011, but he filed for divorce from her in Santa Clara County in May. That case has not yet been resolved, according to court records observed by the California Post.
A spokesperson for the NFL said the league was “aware” of York’s arrest and the situation “will be reviewed under the personal conduct policy.”
The Niners added in a statement they “will not be providing any further comment at this time” on the arrest as it’s a “legal matter, which has been resolved.”
