Sex sold online by teenagers horrifies Halifax mother

[VanessaofBC]

SOURCE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/sex-sold-online-by-teenagers-horrifies-halifax-mother-1.2494785

Sex sold online by teenagers horrifies Halifax mother
'I had a complete meltdown,' says mother of girl who sold sex online
By Angela Gilbert and Bob Murphy, CBC News Posted: Jan 13, 2014 5:17 PM AT Last Updated: Jan 14, 2014 9:21 AM AT

A Halifax mother is on a quest to stop underage prostitution online after discovering her daughter was appearing on classified sites with near-nude images of herself, advertising the sale of her body for money.

"I felt like I died. I felt like part of me died," said Karen. Her name has been changed to protect her identity and the identities of her family members.

A CBC News investigation reveals that the problem of underage prostitution is growing, and police are seeing more girls — some as young as 13 — being exploited.

Karen found out almost a year ago that her teenage daughter was selling sex online. She was told to look up Halifax-area online classified ads under therapeutic services and massages and escorts. She was horrified at what she saw.

"When I saw my daughter's ad, I had a complete meltdown," she told CBC News.


She said lewd images of her daughter were posted online accompanied by a description and a phone number. Karen said her girl has been paid for sex by johns from all walks of life, even though she was not even old enough to drive.

Karen said she learned that there are many girls — at least 40 — in the area selling their bodies for sex.

Karen
Karen, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, said she felt like a part of her died when she discovered near-nude photos of her daughter online. (CBC)

"You can tell they're underage," she said. "They're not fully developed. Some of them don't even have hips yet — that's how young they are. And the descriptions, the way they describe themselves. The wording they use — if it's a girl that is underage, they always use the word 'young.'

"I'm shocked at the amount of underage girls in this city that are involved in this, and they come from every lifestyle, not just girls off the street. They come from good homes. Some of these girls are really good, good girls, and that seems to be the type that are preyed upon."

'I've made up secret identities'

Karen said her daughter has witnessed violence and has explained the rampant use of drugs in "the game," as she calls it.

Karen took months off from work to dedicate time to getting her daughter out of the city's seedy underworld. Her daughter says she's out of it, but that isn't enough for Karen. She is pushing to end underage prostitution.

"I've made up secret identities and have contacted a lot of these ads and set up appointments, have gone and recorded the addresses and phone numbers and taken copies of the ads," she said.

"If I find out there's an underage girl there I will call the police. And I have called the police."

Fiona Traynor
Fiona Traynor, the chair of the board at Stepping Stone, said some young girls who are selling sex may be hesitant to come forward because service providers have a duty to report any prostitution of a minor. (CBC)

Fiona Traynor is chair of the board at Stepping Stone, an outreach organization for sex workers based in Halifax. She said some young girls may be hesitant to come forward because service providers — and all citizens — have a duty to report any prostitution of a minor.

Traynor said that puts a barrier between offering services and being in conflict with the law.

"I'm not suggesting that Stepping Stone as an organization or anybody else in the community shouldn't be reporting underage sex workers. I'm not suggesting that at all," she said.

"I would point out that it does mean that if someone is an underage sex worker, are they most likely to come to a support organization like Stepping Stone or even the police, asking for help and support to get out of it or whatever it is that they want? Because they would then be at risk of potentially being put into foster care, implicating their parents."

'I'm afraid I'm going to die'

Karen, who has been communicating with police for months, is calling for better resources to tackle the issue.

"They're really understaffed and overworked. I don't feel that our special vice unit here has enough people to take care of this problem at all," she said.

"It's a huge frustration, and I do not feel it's hard to shut down these rings at all. If you go on there and you man the ads and you call them and you set up appointments, they give you the addresses. You go to them. I mean it's so easy to find if there's an underaged girl being prostituted out."

Karen hasn't been trained in any way to do the work she's doing. She tries to involve police at every stage but said she has been assaulted and had her life threatened multiple times. Despite that, she isn't prepared to stop.

"I'm afraid I'm going to die … because I won't stand down. I won't step back," she said.

"I don't know if they're going to leave my daughter alone. It seems like when they get one of these girls, when they get a hold of them, they want to keep them because they've already worked them into the system."

 

[retriever]

Not really a surprise. Sex is everywhere today and it's an easy way to make money. I know a server who picks up guys at night. She doesn't ask for protection. Kids think they are invincible. And like a lot of society today their customers don't care who they hurt.

 

[sdw]

There is a lot of pressure on teen girls to have sex as soon as they start dating. No sex, nobody will date you. It's not a huge step to go from having sex with your date to making money by offering paid sex.

Some of it IS the parents fault, but it's also society's fault. When a teen girl is on birth control because her parents allowed it or she had her doctor prescribe it without her parent's knowledge - does anyone think she is not going to have sex? In Canada, except in Quebec, a teen girl can get birth control without her parent's consent at age 16. Younger than 16 and she has to use the "morning after pill" which she can get everywhere in Canada, except Quebec, at any pharmacy with no prescription or permission needed.

http://www.cba.org/dev/BC/public_media/rights/238.aspx
http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/Teens/InfoBooth/Money-jobs-laws/Laws/The-law-and-your-body.aspx

In the article, I have to wonder where the mother thought her daughter's money was coming from? If daughter is now wearing cloths and enjoying things that mom didn't buy - mom and dad need to be asking some questions. Having a "friend" point out her daughter's ad on the internet really means that the parents think that it's the job of someone else to raise their daughter.

 

[VanessaofBC]

There is a lot of pressure on teen girls to have sex as soon as they start dating. No sex, nobody will date you. It's not a huge step to go from having sex with your date to making money by offering paid sex.

Some of it IS the parents fault, but it's also society's fault. When a teen girl is on birth control because her parents allowed it or she had her doctor prescribe it without her parent's knowledge - does anyone think she is not going to have sex? In Canada, except in Quebec, a teen girl can get birth control without her parent's consent at age 16. Younger than 16 and she has to use the "morning after pill" which she can get everywhere in Canada, except Quebec, at any pharmacy with no prescription or permission needed.

http://www.cba.org/dev/BC/public_media/rights/238.aspx
http://www.kidshelpphone.ca/Teens/InfoBooth/Money-jobs-laws/Laws/The-law-and-your-body.aspx

In the article, I have to wonder where the mother thought her daughter's money was coming from? If daughter is now wearing cloths and enjoying things that mom didn't buy - mom and dad need to be asking some questions. Having a "friend" point out her daughter's ad on the internet really means that the parents think that it's the job of someone else to raise their daughter.

I think half the problem is the INTERNET.

The thought of having sex for money certainly never crossed my mind at that young age. At lot of girls just see the ads online, read reviews sites and think, "hey I can do this."

So if your daughter comes home in some shiny new clothes and tells you she her " BF bought them" for her, would you believe that , or think that perhaps she is a child prostitute?

 

[sdw]

I think half the problem is the INTERNET.

The thought of having sex for money certainly never crossed my mind at that young age. At lot of girls just see the ads online, read reviews sites and think, "hey I can do this."

So if your daughter comes home in some shiny new clothes and tells you she her " BF bought them" for her, would you believe that , or think that perhaps she is a child prostitute?

I would think that I need to do some checking, ask some questions. Understand that in my family we know the boyfriend, daughter is not dating anyone we haven't met. I wasn't allowed to date anyone my mom hadn't met. My mom knew what I could afford and there was no "sliding" an explanation if she didn't figure I could afford something I had. Not being able to hide or slide on the question of "where did you get that?" is the first line of defense.

When I went to school, graduated in 1970 - - - girls that "put out" or even got the reputation because of a big mouth boyfriend, weren't going to be going to the prom with any guy that cared about his reputation. It simply wasn't done. If a guy got the reputation of "leaning" on his dates to "put out", the date's brothers or the guys that liked the girl would "have a discussion" with the guy. If you were lucky enough to go out with a girl that let you have sex with her - neither of you told anyone else. It simply wasn't done.

Of course, we didn't have the kind of TV that we have now. The most "risque" thing I watched was Gilligan's Island. We also, of course, didn't have the Internet. It wasn't until the 1980s when Calvin Klein and Guess Jeans started to push the boundaries of advertizing on TV.

We also had jobs after school. Paper Routes, Baby Setting, Stocking shelves at Safeway, etc. With none of the "must have" things that are heavily advertized today - it was easy enough to save for that Bike or those Penny Loafers.

 

[vancity_cowboy]

it's halifax fer crissake!!! of course the hookers start at 13... by 19 some of them are grandmothers already ound: ound: ound:

 

[Tugela]

I would be a little suspicious of how much of a problem it is. While her daughter may have been involved, she is very likely exaggerating to get attention for her crusade. For example, she refers to the infamous "code" that traffickers supposedly use: "The wording they use — if it's a girl that is underage, they always use the word 'young.'", it is not based on experience. They cull their statistics from "code words", or rather what they presume to be code words. In other words, every add that describes the escort as "young" in her opinion involves a minor, but that is not likely.

The other thing that they use to base their opinion on are pictures - especially those of the Asian ladies where a photo of some model is used in the add rather than the real girl. Usually those models look very young (and probably are) but what the activists don't know is that those pictures are rarely of the real SP, who is invariably considerably older.

I don't recall ever seeing an add that overtly describes someone obviously underage. No doubt there are some girls who do this, but probably not as many as she thinks.

We could ask the members here who use the ERS/backpage girls for a sampling of their experience: how often do you go to an appointment from one of those sites and find a girl who is clearly underage, to the point that "They're not fully developed. Some of them don't even have hips yet — that's how young they are"? I think that it would be pretty obvious if a girl was like that, so how often do the members how encounter such girls in their adventures? (we assume that you would walk if you found one of course).

 

[sdw]

I would be a little suspicious of how much of a problem it is. While her daughter may have been involved, she is very likely exaggerating to get attention for her crusade. For example, she refers to the infamous "code" that traffickers supposedly use: "The wording they use — if it's a girl that is underage, they always use the word 'young.'", it is not based on experience. They cull their statistics from "code words", or rather what they presume to be code words. In other words, every add that describes the escort as "young" in her opinion involves a minor, but that is not likely.

The other thing that they use to base their opinion on are pictures - especially those of the Asian ladies where a photo of some model is used in the add rather than the real girl. Usually those models look very young (and probably are) but what the activists don't know is that those pictures are rarely of the real SP, who is invariably considerably older.

I don't recall ever seeing an add that overtly describes someone obviously underage. No doubt there are some girls who do this, but probably not as many as she thinks.

We could ask the members here who use the ERS/backpage girls for a sampling of their experience: how often do you go to an appointment from one of those sites and find a girl who is clearly underage, to the point that "They're not fully developed. Some of them don't even have hips yet — that's how young they are"? I think that it would be pretty obvious if a girl was like that, so how often do the members how encounter such girls in their adventures? (we assume that you would walk if you found one of course).

The woman that the CBC is reporting on says that she sets up appointments to see the girls in the ads. When she knocks on the door, she phones the police if the girl is underage.

So, the police will at least know how many under age girls "Karen" found.

I'm sure that there are under age girls prostituting themselves in the Lower Mainland. After all, it's not that long ago that the 14 year old "Madam" in Abbotsford was arrested. There were also those young people that were running a "sting and embarrass" thing where they took video of men that arrived at their appointment with a teen prostitute. The RCMP made them stop. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...n_to_catch_pedophiles_cops_not_impressed.html

However, the girls that are prostituting themselves are usually already in the "care" of BC Child Welfare - at least that's the impression that I get from reading the various news articles.

Since that is the case, it seems the answer is for the government to actually spend some money actually protecting the children in their care from harm.

 

[retriever]

it's halifax fer crissake!!! of course the hookers start at 13... by 19 some of them are grandmothers already

How is Mom anyway?

 

[PlayfulAlex]

We have good people here that work with this type of situation. It's not a laughing matter, and it all started with one mom.

http://www.childrenofthestreet.com/about/alias.html

 

[Tugela]

The woman that the CBC is reporting on says that she sets up appointments to see the girls in the ads. When she knocks on the door, she phones the police if the girl is underage.

That is what she says she does, but she doesn't say how many she has actually found, and the Halifax police apparently say they have not found many either. So I suspect that it is not many, or her reports turn out to be about women who are of age.

 

[sdw]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/0...scued-from-sex-trade-at-burlington-ont-hotel/

BURLINGTON, Ont. — An investigation into sex trade workers operating from hotels led police to a teenage girl they allege was forced into prostitution in Burlington, Ont.

Halton regional police say they rescued the 15-year-old victim and laid human trafficking charges against a 22-year-old woman.

Police say they were taking part in a national human trafficking awareness initiative this week when they identified and met with more than 20 sex workers operating in hotels in Halton Region, west of Toronto.

During one of those meetings, police say investigators found the teen, who they allege was being exploited and forced to work in the sex industry at the Burlington hotel.

Amie McIntyre of Angus, Ont., is charged with trafficking a person under 18, procuring a person to become a prostitute, controlling a person to engage in prostitution and living off the avails of a person under 18.
McIntyre has been remanded into custody until a court appearance scheduled for Jan. 27.

 

[Tugela]

So they found just one?

 

[sdw]

So they found just one?

Maybe, just maybe they've found more than one.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/All...s+convicted+teen+pimp+case/9444316/story.html

Teen pimp ringleader could face adult jail time


By Chris Cobb, OTTAWA CITIZEN January 29, 2014 1:02 PM

OTTAWA — The 17-year-old ringleader in an Ottawa teen prostitution ring faces the prospect being sentenced as an adult after being found guilty Wednesday of more than two dozen charges ranging from human trafficking, producing child pornography and abduction of a child under 14.

The girl is one of three defendants but the only one who pleaded not guilty.

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, neither the defendants nor their victims can be identified.

The trio lured young victims through Facebook and other social media to a south end home where unsuspecting victims would be prepared against their will to perform paid sexual acts for male clients.

In reading her verdicts on the 33 counts facing the 17-year-old, Justice Diane Lahaie painted a lurid pattern of young girls being lured into “a web of prostitution” that saw them drugged, forced to pose for pornographic images, dress in seductive clothing and ordered to lie about their age when delivered to the ring’s client base of johns.

The 17-year-old and her accomplices typically kept the victims’ clothing and other personal items — including cellphones — until their sexual encounters were done.

In the prisoner box, the 17-year-old wore black-rimmed glasses, a blue shirt and black jacket. Excepting a short outburst of tears she sat impassively during the two hours it took for Lahaie to read her verdicts.

The three girls were arrested in June 2012 on a total of 74 charges. Their victims were between the ages of 13 and 17.

The 13-year-old thought she was going to an innocent sleepover at her new Facebook friend’s house when the 17-year-old invited her to stay at her Walkley Road area home.

The sleepover quickly turned into a horrific nightmare after the defendant slapped the 13-year-old in the face for protesting that she was too young to have sex.

She was forced to dress in a revealing black negligee and to expose herself while the defendant photographed her.

The packed courtroom heard that it was part of the trio’s routine to take suggestive or pornographic photographs of their victims and send them to prospective customers.

The 17-year-old forced her to take a drug which caused the girl vomit at the first john’s apartment. The defendant threw water in her face and ordered to her to stop being sick.

She was later delivered to a man in a BMW who disregarded her pleas for help and although she told him she was only 13, he said he had paid money for sex and insisted she perform oral sex on him.

The 13-year-old’s mother, hearing the circumstances of her daughter’s night of horror for the first time Wednesday, told reporters outside the courthouse that her daughter was “my hero.”

“Anyone who has been a victim of any sort and is brave enough to come up and tell their story is a hero,” said the mother, her voice cracking with emotion.

“The mother was a witness at the 17-year-old’s trial and as such was not allowed to hear evidence from others or discuss the case with her daughter.

“Living though this has been a nightmare for me because I imagined everything worse, and not,” she said. “Today I heard what happened to my daughter and therefore I’m even more broken than I was. (But) I’m so proud.”

Asked what advice she would give other parents, she said: “Make sure you know where your kids are, make sure you know who their friends are, and if you have a gut feeling follow it. I’ve been living with that guilt. I couldn’t protect my daughter.”

She praised the police and Crown prosecutors.

“Justice has been served,” she said.

Another victim, aged 16, was forced to smoke marijuana and wear make up. When she tried to wipe it off, the defendant slapped her.

When the 17-year-old saw that the victim was carrying CVs to deliver to stores at a local mall, she ridiculed the girl and told her she would make more money being paid for sex.

Three years is the maximum sentence for human trafficking under the Youth Criminal Justice Act but if prosecutors get their way and the 17-year-old is sentenced as an adult, she will face a mandatory minimum five years plus whatever the judge adds for the other offences.

In at least two of the cases, prospective ‘johns’ saw the girls were in distress and were instrumental in getting them home.

A sentencing date will be fixed on Feb 12.

Another 17-year-old who pleaded guilty as a youth has already been sentenced to the maximum three-year sentence.

With credit for time served, she was ordered to spend another 152 days in jail and a further 76 days in the community under supervision as a gradual re-integration in society.

The third offender, an 18-year-old currently living in Montreal, has also pleaded guilty. Her sentence is pending a psychiatric report.

Before handing the 17-year-old her sentence earlier this month, Justice Lahaie told her that the crimes were a “vile enterprise” and she had shown a “callous disregard for her victims.“

One of the victims had become suicidal, said the judge.

Lead detective Kelly Lyle said she was proud of how victims in the case had conducted themselves during the trial.

“It’s a case we haven’t seen before and won’t see again,” she said. “It’s shocking for everybody.”

Asked it she felt any sympathy for the 17-year-old defendant, she added: “Of course I have sympathy. I have sympathy for everybody in this case. All we can hope is that teenagers learn from their mistakes.”

ccobb@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/chrisicobb
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

 

[*emmanuelle]

She was later delivered to a man in a BMW who disregarded her pleas for help and although she told him she was only 13, he said he had paid money for sex and insisted she perform oral sex on him.

Jesus. I don't even know what to say to this.
Disgusting.

 

[VanessaofBC]

Maybe, just maybe they've found more than one.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/All...s+convicted+teen+pimp+case/9444316/story.html

Unbelievably sad, sickening, twisted, shocking, creepy, yuck. There are so many words to describe what happen. I hope all the victims can make a come back.

 

[Tugela]

Maybe, just maybe they've found more than one.

http://www.theprovince.com/news/All...s+convicted+teen+pimp+case/9444316/story.html

No, that is something that happened a while back.

But it underlines that these things are relatively uncommon. We are talking about a few cases a year, and since law enforcement have a particular focus on under-aged prostitution, you would expect them to be actively looking for it. So why are the courts not full of these cases if there is so much going on, as we are led to believe? If they find these girls, they are not going to just let people off with a warning, the cases will be going to court, so where are they all?