Online sex ads complicate crackdowns on teen trafficking
Steve Turnham and Amber Lyon
CNN Special Investigations Unit
(CNN) - Behind every adult service ad on the internet is a story.
Sometimes it's a story of a grown woman who has chosen prostitution as a path to a better life. More often, it's a story of a woman being forced to sell her body by a pimp.
And then there are the children, and the mothers that miss them.
"They told me to look on Craigslist and it almost blew my mind," the mother of one missing 12-year-old told CNN. "She was there with a wig on. She was there in a purple negligee.
"She's a normal 12-year-old - Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, they're her favorite," the mother said. "She's always screaming and hollering and singing. She's a great young lady."
The same day the woman spoke to CNN, her daughter was rescued by police at a seedy hotel near Washington where she was being sold for sex. And she's not alone.
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Filed under: 360° Radar • Amber Lyon |
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As a victim myself of predatory men when I was a child; I honestly would like to see the penalty for sex traffickers and those who prey on underage children be raised to the death penalty. This crime just kills the spirit of the children and they are scarred for life...and for those who would prey on the children...they cannot be reformed. Can we not just once protect the women and children rather than the pimps and predators?