Northern Virginia a Hotspot for Kidnapping Children and Turning Them into Drugged Sex Slaves
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/gangs-in-northern-virginia-increasingly-selling-children-for-sex/2013/09/29/3386e1a8-1c9c-11e3-82ef-a059e54c49d0_story.html?tid=pm_local_pop
At a trial in federal district court in Alexandria this month, prosecutors said Chyna was one of at least four teenagers sold as sex workers by the “Cold-blooded Cartel,” a Georgia-based gang that found Northern Virginia to be an especially lucrative territory to prostitute children. Their case, prosecutors say, is indicative of a disturbing phenomenon in the Washington area. More and more gangs are prostituting teens, finding it a bigger moneymaker than drugs or weapons.
A leader of the Cold-blooded Cartel was sentenced to 25 years in prison in June, before the trial this month of two others involved in his prostitution ring. A member of the Mara Salvatrucha street gang, also known as MS-13, was charged last month and accused of helping others in what prosecutors called an “underground prostitution business” involving four female runaways.
“This is an emerging trend, and the gangs, we think, have made a horribly wrong business calculation that they can make a lot of money and get away with it,” MacBride said.
Prosecutors say that members of the Cold-blooded Cartel plied the girls with marijuana and ecstasy to make them more receptive. The gang exerted control through a combination of violence — at least one member carried a gun — and affectionate overtures. Two of the girls had tattoos of a gang leader’s nickname, “Boo.”
The concern, though, is that other gangs have started to follow MS-13’s lead, and they have started using more sophisticated online recruitment through social networking sites. Last year, a man affiliated with the Underground Gangster Crips was sentenced to 40 years in prison for running what prosecutors described as one of the largest underage prostitution rings in the Washington area’s history.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2013 09:47PM by eesh.