[Q]Child advocates are especially concerned that pimps are increasingly
targeting girls at the local mall, a place many parents consider a haven for
their kids to gather after school and on weekends. "Ten years ago you didn't
see this happening," says Bob Flores, who heads the Justice Department's
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "We've got kids in
every major city and in suburbia all over the place being prostituted."
"Potentially good sex is a small price to pay for the freedom to spend
money on what I want," says 17-year-old Stacey [not her real name], who liked
to hang out after school at the Mall of America, Minnesota's vast shopping
megaplex, Newsweek reports. After being approached last summer by a man who
told her how pretty she was, and asked if he could buy her some clothes,
Stacey agreed and went home that night with a $250 outfit.
Stacey, who lives with her parents in an upscale neighborhood, began
stripping for men in hotel rooms -- then went on to more intimate activities.
She placed ads on a local telephone personals service, offering "wealthy,
generous" men "an evening of fun" for $400. (The Mall of America, whose
spokesman declined to comment, has an extensive security operation, and rules
requiring juveniles to have chaperones on weekend evenings. Law-enforcement
officials, who praise the mall's efforts to combat the problem, nonetheless
concede pimps are active there. "The Mall of America is a huge recruiting
center," says FBI Special Agent Eileen Jacob.)[/Q]
Read the whole article:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=617800&TICK=NEWS&STORY=/www/story/08-10-2003/0001998144&EDATE=Aug+10,+2003
targeting girls at the local mall, a place many parents consider a haven for
their kids to gather after school and on weekends. "Ten years ago you didn't
see this happening," says Bob Flores, who heads the Justice Department's
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. "We've got kids in
every major city and in suburbia all over the place being prostituted."
"Potentially good sex is a small price to pay for the freedom to spend
money on what I want," says 17-year-old Stacey [not her real name], who liked
to hang out after school at the Mall of America, Minnesota's vast shopping
megaplex, Newsweek reports. After being approached last summer by a man who
told her how pretty she was, and asked if he could buy her some clothes,
Stacey agreed and went home that night with a $250 outfit.
Stacey, who lives with her parents in an upscale neighborhood, began
stripping for men in hotel rooms -- then went on to more intimate activities.
She placed ads on a local telephone personals service, offering "wealthy,
generous" men "an evening of fun" for $400. (The Mall of America, whose
spokesman declined to comment, has an extensive security operation, and rules
requiring juveniles to have chaperones on weekend evenings. Law-enforcement
officials, who praise the mall's efforts to combat the problem, nonetheless
concede pimps are active there. "The Mall of America is a huge recruiting
center," says FBI Special Agent Eileen Jacob.)[/Q]
Read the whole article:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=617800&TICK=NEWS&STORY=/www/story/08-10-2003/0001998144&EDATE=Aug+10,+2003