On the Stips website, where you can ask questions and get tips on various subjects, one of the “questions by young people” in March was this: “How much does S. from Kiryat Gat cost? And where does she live?”

A few hours later came an anonymous response: “She doesn’t cost anything, but she stinks like hell from my friends’ descriptions.”

S., 38, was arrested two days ago by the Kiryat Gat police after a complaint against her for having sexual relations with minors. She is suspected of sexual offenses against minors under the age of 14, which is a criminal offense. The acts were carried out in her home. Nobody knows how many incidents took place there, not even S., but police think there were hundreds. S., like the boys involved, knows that the acts were consensual and went on for years. Boys and adults from Kiryat Gat and other places would come to her house and have sex with her. But in contrast to the rumors, she did not do it for money.

One of the parents whose son was with her started a rumor that since she had slept with so many men, she almost certainly suffers from AIDS. The rumor was spread last week in Kiryat Gat and was heard by everyone who was ever in contact with her, mainly young boys, who became very nervous. S. was finally arrested after a police investigation.

Kiryat Gat residents were not surprised, and many people know S.’s life story. She suffered from severe poverty and undiagnosed personality disorders after her son died a month after birth and another daughter was taken by the welfare services. Two years ago she was about to give birth, but apparently because she was afraid that someone would take the infant, she gave birth in the street where nobody could see her. A city council member who used to worked for the welfare services and knows her from then, said, “I’ve known her for over a decade, she’s an unfortunate woman whom everyone knew, and they would help her with whatever was necessary. But apparently things have changed since then.”