FBI: Sacramento Tops List For Child Prostitution
Thursday, June 26th, 2008by News10/KXTV
SACRAMENTO, CA - A nationwide sting on pimps found Sacramento near the top of the list for child prostitution, according to the FBI.
Federal agents conducted the sting last week and removed four children, one of them 12 years old, from the grip of adult male pimps.
The Justice Department said it targeted 16 cities, including Sacramento, as part of its “Operation Cross Country” that caps off five years of similar stings nationwide.
All four girls are from Sacramento and were between 12 and 16 years old. The 12-year-old was prostituting on the street, while the other three were being pimped online.
Federal agents said the extent of child prostitution in Sacramento is alarming. “I know that Sacramento, even though it’s considered a small city has a huge problem with prostitution,” FBI Agent Minerva Shelton said.
Shelton said the most common place to find the pimps pushing the girls into prostitution is online, pointing to post after post on the popular Craigslist, riddled with ads for girls soliciting their escort services. The ads claim the girls are adults, but Shelton said the photos don’t lie.
“They are lured by a pimp into prostitution online,” Shelton said.
The girls are convinced the pimp is their boyfriend and will look out for them if they run away from home.
Once with the pimp, Shelton said the girls are persuaded into prostituting themselves to help pay the bills until they get on their feet.
Often the pimp will then pay for their hair and nails, buy them new clothes and make the girls feel they are being taken care of.
“We had one from Montana who was lured by the pimp here who is out of Sacramento,” Shelton said. “She was brought down here for the purpose of prostitution.”
The four girls who were arrested in last week’s sting in Sacramento are now in protective custody. Two of the four pimps have been arrested.
In all, authorities arrested 345 people ? including 290 adult prostitutes ? during the operation that ended this week, according to the FBI.
Since 2003, 308 pimps and hookers have been convicted in state and federal courts of forcing youngsters into prostitution, and 433 child victims have been rescued, Mueller said.