CrimProf Blog

"Innocence Lost" Shows FBI How Pimps Recruit and Abuse Teen Prostitutes

From USATODAY.com: "Innocence Lost," is a project launched in 2003 by the Justice Department. The FBI set up 14 task forces in cities with the most reports of child prostitution; now the task forces are in 27 cities. The project has produced 543 arrests and 94 convictions, says Drew Oosterbaan, chief of the Justice Department's child exploitation section.

Legal filings in "Innocence Lost" cases reveal how pimps recruit and abuse teen prostitutes:

• A Chelsea, Mass., woman, Evelyn Diaz was charged this month with recruiting girls who were 13, 15 and 16 to work as prostitutes. FBI special agent Tamara Harty testified that one girl, 13 at the time, told agents that Diaz took her shopping and to restaurants, then to clients in New York.
• Juan Rico Doss of Reno was convicted last month of recruiting girls 14 and 16 to work as prostitutes in California. They were told to lie about their ages if arrested.
• In Detroit, four Ohio residents were charged in December with holding girls as prisoners and making them call their pimp "Daddy."
• Indictments of 16 people in Harrisburg, Pa., in December alleged that one 12-year-old girl was forced to have sex to pay for her grandfather's crack cocaine.

"Innocence Lost' will continue, Oosterbaan says. "When I see cases cropping up in places like Harrisburg," he says, "that suggests that the problem is more pervasive than people might think."

Rest of Article. . . [Mark Godsey]

Estimated 5,000 Teens Involved in Prostitution in NYC

Story here.  [Mark Godsey]

Door to Door Breast Exam Guy Arrested

Story.  [Mark Godsey]

S. Carolina Considers Making Sell of Sex Toys a Felony

Story here.  [Mark Godsey]

Alleged Rape by Duke Lacrosse Team

Listen to NPR story here.   More on response of defense attorney here. 

International Chatroom Featuring Child Molestation Shut Down

Victims include children as young as 18 months.  Story here.

Out with the Sex, in with the New

In response to criticism and concern, the Spotsylvania, VA County Sheriff has suspended the policy allowing his deputies to receive sexual services in efforts to ferret out massage parlor prostitutes. [Mark Godsey]

Mississippi: Sex Offenders in High Places

Jackson, Mississippi (AP): The state of Mississippi plans to plaster the names and faces of convicted sex offenders on billboard advertisements along local highways. The agency hopes to have as many as 100 billboards ready by summer with pictures and names of sex offenders who are currently in prison. The signs will include details about the prisoners' convictions. 

But Nsombi Lambright, head of the American Civil Liberties Union in Mississippi, raised the obvious question and concern. "Why is it necessary to put them on billboards if they're already serving?" she asked. It'll just be a big waste of money. Story from Findlaw. . . [Mark Godsey]

Italian Supreme Court: Lack of Virginity = a Mitigating Factor to Sex Crime Charges

The Italian Supreme Court decided that a teenage sex-crime victim's lack of virginity can be considered as a mitigating factor at trial.   Because of her previous sexual experiences, the court said, the victim's "personality, from a sexual point of view, is much more developed than what would be normally expected of a girl of her age".  So it is "fair to argue that (the damage for the victim) would be lower" if the abused girl was not a virgin.  The court's decision drew widespread criticism across the political spectrum.  Full story from CNN.com. . . [Mark Godsey, thanks to Neil Wehneman]

Risque Business: VA Cops' Search for Massage Parlor Prostitutes Leads to a Happy Ending

From washingtonpost: They enter the massage parlors as undercover detectives. They leave as satisfied customers.  In Spotsylvania County, VA as part of a campaign by the sheriff's office to root out prostitution in the massage parlor business, detectives have been receiving sexual services from "masseuses." According to court documents, detectives have allowed women to perform sexual acts on them on several occasions, at least once leaving a $350 tip. 

George Mason CrimProf Jon Gould commented, "I've never heard of that anywhere else in any police department. You don't have to go through with the act to prove" solicitation. He called it an improper use of taxpayer dollars.

To reassure naysayers, Spotsylvania Sherrif Howard D. Smith said that the practice is not new and only unmarried detectives are assigned to such cases.  Oooh, okay. [Mark Godsey]

New NIJ Rape Study

"More than 300,000 women and almost 93,000 men are raped annually, according to the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS). Researchers found differences in rape prevalence relating to age, gender, and race/ethnicity, as well as other factors such as whether victims were first raped as minors. Despite widespread public education, rape remains a largely underreported crime; and despite increased levels of research over the past few decades, significant gaps remain in understanding rape victimization. This National Institute of Justice Special Report takes a detailed look at the NVAWS findings and the researchers' recommendations for future research.  The report is available online at the NIJ Web site at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/pubs-sum/210346.htm"

I for one am surprised that the female-male rape ratio is only  about 3-1. [Jack Chin]

Baltimore Cops Charged with Rape

From CNN.com: Baltimore, MD (AP): Three city police officers have been indicted on rape charges alleging that one officer had sex with a woman at a police station in exchange for her release and that the other two conspired to let it happen, the state's attorney's office said. Story. . . [Mark Godsey]

MSNBC: 2005 is the Year of the Male Student/Female Teacher Sex Scandal

Story here. [Jack Chin]

Sex Appeal to Steal

The crimes: attempted robbery and car theft...so far. The M.O.: sexual advances.  And they're on the loose from Texas. [Mark Godsey] 

Judge Rejects Plea Deal . . .

. . . in the case of the female teacher who had sex with her minor student.  The deal previously reached with prosecutors would have allowed her to escape prison.  Story . . . [Mark Godsey]

FL: teacher Avoids Jail for Student Sex

The 25 year old Forida teacher who had sex with a 14 year old boy avoided prison by abandoning her insanity defense and pleading guilty.  She will be required to register as a sex offender.  Story here. [Jack Chin]

Phone Calls from Phony Cops Get Fast Food Workers to Strip

Someone pretending to be a cop calls an assistant manager of a fast food joint, describes another worker and says she is suspected of theft.  The assistant manager is asked to have the employee strip, sometimes worse.  This scam has happened dozens of times around the country, and many employees evidently often go along.

"On Nov. 30, 2000, the caller persuaded the manager at a McDonald's in Leitchfield, Ky., to remove her own clothes in front of a customer whom the caller said was suspected of sex offenses. The caller promised that undercover officers would burst in and arrest the customer the moment he attempted to molest her, said Detective Lt. Gary Troutman of the Leitchfield Police Department."

"On Jan. 26, 2003, according a police report in Davenport, Iowa, an assistant manager at an Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar conducted a degrading 90-minute search of a waitress at the behest of a caller who said he was a regional manager -- even though the man had called collect, and despite the fact the assistant manager had read a company memo warning about hoax calls just a month earlier. He later told police he'd forgotten about the memo."  [Jack Chin]

The Worst Defense Theory of the Year Award Goes to...

Gail O'Toole's attorney.  Gail O'Toole, in case you haven't heard, is the woman convicted of simple assault for gluing her ex-lover's penis to his stomach, his testicles to his leg, and his buttocks cheeks together, while he slept.  She lured her ex-lover to her home under the guise that they should reestablish their friendship.  Although O'Toole admitted that she had been planning the assault since they broke up five years prior, O'Toole's attorney used the theory that "this was part of routine sexual activity between the couple -- acts that he agreed to -- incidents that should have stayed in the bedroom." Story... [Mark Godsey]

Pilot Program in the OC to Track Sex Offenders in Relation to Crime Scenes

From MercuryNews.com: Santa Ana, CA (AP): "While global positioning systems (GPS) are used to track parolees across the country, Orange County [California] will be the first to automatically cross-reference their location with the scene of a recent crime.  The state is paying for the two-year pilot program.

"It's one of those great tools to potentially identify a suspect, but it also helps us eliminate those people who have not committed the crime," Sheriff Michael S. Carona said Friday.

Under the system, the sheriff's department will send the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation information on crimes committed in its jurisdiction.  If a parolee was within 500 feet of a crime scene, the state will notify the sheriff's department. The department can also ask which parolees were closest to a crime scene.

This week, GPS tracking began for 21 high-risk sex offenders in Orange County. Officials expect to increase the number to 40 within two weeks.  Carona said he wants to expand the system to include all high-risk sex offenders, along with gang members, drug dealers and stalkers. Eventually, it should include all people on probation or parole, Carona said....

Monitoring a parolee with GPS costs the state $8.75 per day along with the $9.70 per day it costs to supervise someone on parole." Story... [Mark Godsey]

AZ: Saga of Youg Rape Victim's Struggle to Get Emergency Contraception

Many drug stores do not carry prescription emergency contraception; others have it but pharmaacists refuse to supply it for moral reasons. [Jack Chin]