Posted: 6:08 pm EST December 22, 2010Updated: 6:45 pm EST December 22, 2010
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Federal investigators are going after pimps who lure children into sex trafficking rings and it's happening in Central Florida. Fifty children have been rescued in the last two years, but investigators believe there are many more being pimped-out by older men who they think are their fathers."
"At the age of seven, I started walking on the streets with my mom," an unnamed sex trafficking victim told WFTV.
She ended up in foster care and, when she ran away at 12, was lured into sex trafficking in Parramore where she grew up. She said it was a familiar lifestyle; her father was a pimp and her mother was a known prostitute.
"I could probably average, five, six, seven-hundred dollars a night, depending on how many guys I slept with," she said.
She represents the young girls FBI agents are looking for as part of Operation Cross Country. For two years, they've worked with local law enforcement agencies to rescue girls from sex trafficking rings, some as young as nine.
The latest undercover operation in November focused on Central Florida. Agents only rescued four girls, between 15 and 17 years old, but they believe there's an untold number out there. WFTV wanted to know why it's so hard to track them down.
"It's under-reported crime. The public typically is not aware. As you mentioned earlier, most folks think, this is the United States of America," FBI special agent Dave Couvetier said.
Investigators believe the girls are lured in everyday places, including schools, playgrounds and sometimes they're just walking down the streets because many are runaways."
The pimps will actually exploit that and make them believe they are the boyfriend, they are that father-figure for them," Couvetier said.
Investigators said that makes it nearly impossible to arrest the pimps. It can take months to get the girls to open up after they're rescued, and by then the pimp has moved his operation.
The girls are typically turned over to the Department of Children and Families, so the agency just started training its investigators on how to spot victims and how to care for them once they're in state custody.
The victim WFTV spoke with said she performed her last trick in Boston and, in a rare move, she escaped the ring without police help. She is now working full-time, going to school, and has a 4-year-old son.
"There is two ways out, you'll get stuck in or you're going to die out or someone is going to kill you," she said.FBI agents said if they're able to find the pimps, they will be charged with human sex trafficking. The sentences range from a five-year sentence to life in prison.
Source: wftv.com9
Officers Going After Child-Luring Pimps - News Story - WFTV Orlando "At the age of seven, I started walking on the streets with my mom," an unnamed sex trafficking victim told WFTV.
She ended up in foster care and, when she ran away at 12, was lured into sex trafficking in Parramore where she grew up. She said it was a familiar lifestyle; her father was a pimp and her mother was a known prostitute.
"I could probably average, five, six, seven-hundred dollars a night, depending on how many guys I slept with," she said.
She represents the young girls FBI agents are looking for as part of Operation Cross Country. For two years, they've worked with local law enforcement agencies to rescue girls from sex trafficking rings, some as young as nine.
The latest undercover operation in November focused on Central Florida. Agents only rescued four girls, between 15 and 17 years old, but they believe there's an untold number out there. WFTV wanted to know why it's so hard to track them down.
"It's under-reported crime. The public typically is not aware. As you mentioned earlier, most folks think, this is the United States of America," FBI special agent Dave Couvetier said.
Investigators believe the girls are lured in everyday places, including schools, playgrounds and sometimes they're just walking down the streets because many are runaways."
The pimps will actually exploit that and make them believe they are the boyfriend, they are that father-figure for them," Couvetier said.
Investigators said that makes it nearly impossible to arrest the pimps. It can take months to get the girls to open up after they're rescued, and by then the pimp has moved his operation.
The girls are typically turned over to the Department of Children and Families, so the agency just started training its investigators on how to spot victims and how to care for them once they're in state custody.
The victim WFTV spoke with said she performed her last trick in Boston and, in a rare move, she escaped the ring without police help. She is now working full-time, going to school, and has a 4-year-old son.
"There is two ways out, you'll get stuck in or you're going to die out or someone is going to kill you," she said.FBI agents said if they're able to find the pimps, they will be charged with human sex trafficking. The sentences range from a five-year sentence to life in prison.
Source: wftv.com9
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