GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The 87-year-old man police say was soliciting an undercover cop posing as a prostitute will not be prosecuted. 
 
 "What would be the purpose in prosecuting him? " Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth said Tuesday, Sept. 1. "He wouldn't and shouldn't go to jail and 87 years without involvement in the criminal justice system has, in my opinion, earned him a pass." 
 
 Howard Arthur Klein, likely the oldest person ever charged with this crime, was arrested by Grand Rapids Police around 10 p.m. June 26, near Broadway Street NW and Leonard Avenue, not far from his home. 
 
 Klein was arrested along with two other men and two women, the rest of whom were booked into the Kent County Jail. Klein was not taken into custody, due to his age, and was arraigned July 8. 
 
 Related: 87-year-old man charged with soliciting a prostitute 
 
 Klein allegedly claimed he thought the woman he approached was someone he knew from church. 
 
 Klein faced a maximum of 93 days in the Kent County Jail if convicted. 
 
 "I could see no compelling reason to continue to prosecute Mr. Klein on the ticket he was issued for accosting and soliciting," Forsyth said. "He is 87 years old with absolutely no criminal record. In addition, I am told he struggles to some degree with dementia." 
 
 E-mail Barton Deiters: bdeiters@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/GRPBarton or Facebook at facebook.com/bartondeiters.5 ||||| Howard Klein talks to 24 Hour News 8 on July 21, 2015. 
 
 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Prosecutors have dropped the case against an 87-year-old man charged with soliciting a prostitute. 
 
 Howard Klein was arrested for soliciting prostitution in the area of Leonard Street and Broadway Avenue NW in July. 
 
 Police refused to discuss details of the case, but said it was part of a sting targeting prostitution that has plagued the West Side neighborhood. 
 
 However, Klein denied trying to pick up a prostitute. He told 24 Hour News 8 he thought the woman standing near the street was a lady he’d seen at church. 
 
 The Kent County Prosecutor’s Office told 24 Hour News 8 they had reviewed the case and decided to dismiss the charges. Prosecutors said that given his age and the fact that he had no prior criminal record, he did not seem to pose a danger to society. 
 
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 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- An 87-year-old man was one of several people arrested in a prostitution sting in Grand Rapids in late June. Howard Arthur Klein was arrested in one of two operations by the Grand Rapids Police Department. 
 
 GRPD said they conducted the stings in the area of Leonard Street and Broadway Avenue SW and S. Division Avenue between downtown Grand Rapids and Alger Street SE. 
 
 Tia Booth, 32, and Tammy Glautney, 45, were arrested for prostitution . Police said Booth pleaded guilty to solicitation of an illegal act, and Gaultney was arraigned for solicitation of prostitution. 
 
 Police said two female detectives posed as decoys during the second part of the operation. Three people were arrested, including Paul Alan Leys, 35, Felipe Reuben Manuel, 22, and Klein. 
 
 Leys was arrested for indecent exposure, while both Manuel and Klein were arrested and arraigned for solicitation of prostitution. Due to Klein's age, police cited the man instead of taking him into custody.
– Howard Arthur Klein lived 87 years without so much as a blot on his criminal record. In truth, the elderly Michigan man didn't have a record at all until a night in June when he was nabbed in a sting, accused of soliciting a prostitute who was actually an undercover cop. But it seems all will be forgotten as a Kent County prosecutor has decided to throw out his case. "He is 87 years old with absolutely no criminal record. In addition, I am told he struggles to some degree with dementia," he tells Michigan Live. "He wouldn't and shouldn't go to jail and 87 years without involvement in the criminal justice system has, in my opinion, earned him a pass." Two accused prostitutes, aged 32 and 45, and two other males arrested alongside Klein in the June sting in Grand Rapids were booked into the Kent County Jail, but Klein was allowed to go free because of his age, reports Fox 17. He was arraigned on July 8 and faced 93 days in jail if convicted. Klein, who MLive reports is "likely the oldest person ever charged with this crime," has denied any wrongdoing. He tells WOOD-TV he simply thought the woman he approached on a street was someone he knew from his church.