Football player arrested in pandering sting

Jen Lawson

Tuesday, April 22, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

A member of the British Columbia Lions of the Canadian Football League has been arrested in connection with trying to recruit an undercover Metro Police officer to work for him as a prostitute.

Herman Smith, 31, known as the "Herminator," was arrested at a lounge inside a resort on Las Vegas Boulevard on charges of pandering and possession of a credit card without the owner's consent.

Sgt. Tim Shalhoob said that on April 11 Smith approached the undercover officer, who was dressed "trashy" but "had an innocent look to her."

"He engaged her in a casual conversation and it turned to, 'Have you ever thought about being a working girl?' " Shalhoob said. "He wanted her to work for him and named specific acts she would have to perform. She just played along."

After he talked for 35 to 40 minutes, other officers, who were listening via a hidden wire, arrested Smith. Shalhoob declined to say at which resort the arrest took place.

A spokesman for the team did not return calls this morning for comment.

Smith, a Mississippi native, has played defensive end for the British Columbia Lions since September 1998, according to his biography on the team's website. He signed on as a free agent.

Before joining the Canadian team, Smith was a late cut by the Dallas Cowboys. In 1997 Smith was with the San Francisco 49ers but was released, the website says. After that, he played for the London Monarchs of NFL Europe.

Smith is hailed as one of the Canadian league's top defensive linemen and was nominated for its Player of the Year in 2000.

The site says he lives in Vancouver in the off season, but Shalhoob said he might stay in Las Vegas.

Shalhoob said Smith wasn't the target of an investigation.

"We get complaints from hotels, from bartenders, from security that people hang around trying to pick up girls and turn them out as prostitutes," he said. "(The officer's) job was to sit there and see who approached her."