Child victims of sex trafficking...
Sex trafficking in the U.S. called epidemic
Saturday, April 23, 2011 - No class and no child is immune
Sex trafficking in the U.S. called epidemic
Saturday, April 23, 2011 - No class and no child is immune
When she first showed up at Children of the Night, a privately funded residential facility, Jane was angry. Arrested more than 20 times as a prostitute, she had been hardened by the street. She threw things at her counselors. Everyone was terrified by having to deal with her. She was just afraid. She was used to being treated so rough, said Lois Lee, the Los Angeles groups founder and president. She didnt know what to do with someone nice.
Jane, not her real name, was just 14 when her life was taken over in Seattle by a 36-year-old man who said he loved her and promised to give her a better life. It was an easy sell: She was the product of a troubled home, where she was sexually molested by her fathers roommate. The abuse began when she was 4 years old. She also was molested at the day care center where she was taken every day. My mom was a junkie, Jane, now 17, said in an interview. I lived with my dad. He was up and down with his moods. He had a marijuana addiction. I cant remember much of my childhood. I block it out.
Jane said the molestation made her shy, and when she finally told someone about it her aunt her father turned away from her. I needed his support, but he started to shut down, she said. I figured he didnt care anymore [about me] and so I didnt care anymore. I just started staying away from my house. She ended up with a family friend, a woman who forced her to work as a prostitute and sell drugs. Thats when she met James Jackson, the man she called Jay, who persuaded her to go with him to Portland, Ore. He promised to show her a better life, but moments after they arrived, Jackson told her she had to sell her ass, court records show. When she objected, he choked and punched her until she agreed to be a prostitute. Jane is not the only girl to fall victim to someone she has trusted, but no one really knows how many others there are.
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