U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's arrest at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is putting a new focus on efforts by authorities to curtail cruising for sex in public places.

On Wednesday, police said Craig, a Republican from Idaho, was one of 41 people arrested since May at the airport on allegations of illegal sexual activity in public restrooms.

While it's not clear if the Internet played a role in Craig's case, Web discussions have become a common forum for directing people to hot spots for anonymous gay sex.

Craig was arrested in June when he signaled to an officer in an adjoining restroom stall that he was interested in engaging in "lewd conduct," according to a misdemeanor charge filed against him.

He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on Aug. 1 and was fined $575 but said this week he regrets the plea and that he "did nothing wrong at the Minneapolis airport."

But experts say the allegations surrounding Craig's case is just the latest high-profile example of cruising for impersonal sex in public places.

Two of the airport arrests were linked to personal ads posted on craigslist, a popular site featuring free classified ads grouped by urban areas.

Another website lists Twin Cities-area malls, parks, health clubs and even a "cruisy toilet" on Machinery Hill at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds. Many postings list the best times to go and give graphic reviews of the venues.

An airport bathroom, specifically one near a shoe-shine stand behind the ticket counter, generated the most comments until website users posted warnings in June that men were getting arrested there. Craig was arrested shortly after noon on June 11 in the main men's public restroom of the North Star Crossing in the Lindbergh Terminal.

Experts weren't surprised by Craig's arrest, but there are different opinions about how the Internet has changed the dynamics of the subculture that seeks out anonymous sex in public places.

Historians have documented similar conduct going back 200 years in urban communities, but the Internet has raised awareness of both men looking for sex and police looking to arrest them, said Richard Tewksbury a professor of Justice Administration at the University of Louisville, who has researched such behavior for nearly 20 years.

"The Internet has ... provided greater awareness to individuals who previously didn't have any realization that such behavior went on," Tewksbury said. "But it's really a wash for law enforcement, because they certainly monitor these sites and know the locales."

Eli Coleman, a sexual health professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, said there's no evidence that the Internet has increased anonymous sexual activity.

"Anywhere men gather is a potential source," Coleman said. "Years ago, it was downtown skyway bathrooms."

Authorities target venues

St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh said frequent complaints about lewd conduct along the Mississippi River bluffs were once frequent, but have dwindled in recent years, other than some activity in the city's Lilydale Park, across the river from downtown.

A few years ago, the State Patrol cracked down on men frequenting the Elm Creek rest area off Interstate 94 near Maple Grove. In May, Burnsville police arrested six men for indecent exposure along Black Dog Road adjacent to Interstate 35W through the Minnesota National Wildlife Refuge.

Airport police officials wouldn't say how many of the arrests were related to its undercover enforcement effort to reduce such activity, said Kathleen Bangs, the Metropolitan Airports Commission's public information officer.