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Georgia (USA): Sex tourism thriving in Bible Belt
Sex tourism thriving in Bible Belt
Tue Apr 4, 2006 10:01 AM ET
By Verna Gates and Mickey Goodman
> ATLANTA (Reuters) - In a sleazy hotel room,
> "Brittany," then aged 16 and drugged into oblivion,
> waited for the men to arrive. Her pimps sent as many
> as 17 clients an evening through the door.
>
> A "john" could even pre-book the pretty young
> blonde for $1,000 a night, sometimes flying in and
> then flying out from a nearby airport.
>
> None of this happened in Bangkok or Costa
> Rica, places that have become synonymous with sex
> tourism and underage sex.
>
> It took place in Atlanta, the buckle of the
> U.S. Bible Belt, where the world's busiest passenger
> airport provides a cheaper, more convenient and
> safer underage sex destination for men seeking girls
> as young as 10.
>
> "Men fly in, are met by pimps, have sex with a
> 14-year-old for lunch, and get home in time for
> dinner with the family," said Sanford Jones, the
> chief juvenile judge of Fulton County, Georgia.
>
> A new federal law passed in 2003 ensures that
> American sex tourists landing on foreign soil and
> hiring prostitutes under the age of 18 can get 30
> years in prison.
>
> But in Georgia, punishment for pimping or
> soliciting sex with a girl under 18 is only five to
> 20 years, according to Deborah Espy, the Deputy
> District Attorney of Fulton County.
>
> "Men are coming to Atlanta to have sex with a
> child," said LaKendra Baker, project manager for the
> Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation
> (CEASE).
>
> Half of the street-level prostitutes in
> Atlanta are believed to be under 18, according to
> experts.
>
> Others are booked through Internet sex sites
> and from social sites like Black Planet, where girls
> innocently post profiles, said Baker.
>
> Just in March, police arrested a Canadian man
> meeting a 14-year-old girl he found through the
> Internet, said Cathey Steinberg, executive director
> of the Juvenile Justice Fund, which funds treatment
> for abused girls and prevention.
>
> Another man drove from North Georgia, with a
> bag containing a teddy bear, a love note and
> condoms, snorting methamphetamine on the way.
>
> He expected a 13-year-old girl, but instead
> found Heather Lackey, a corporal with the Peachtree
> City Police Department.
>
> "People are stunned that Atlanta's the No. 1
> sex center in the country," said Steinberg.
>
> The FBI has identified 14 U.S. cities as
> centers for the sexual exploitation of children. In
> addition to Atlanta, they are Chicago, Dallas,
> Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis,
> New York, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis,
> Tampa, and Washington, D.C.
>
> RUNAWAYS AT MOST RISK
>
> In all, an estimated 200,000 to 300,000
> underage girls are prostituted in the United States,
> according to a University of Pennsylvania study.
>
> Most youths caught up in the sex trade are
> runaways, like Brittany, whose 19-year-old
> "rescuers" soon demanded a return on their
> investment.
>
> "I didn't have any place to go. My mom hated
> me for what I was doing to the family," said
> Brittany, who did not want to be identified by her
> real name.
>
> Up to 90 percent of runaways are believed to
> end up as prostitutes, with a third lured into
> prostitution within 48 hours. Some are sold into
> sexual slavery by their parents, according to a 2005
> study by the Atlanta Women's Agenda.
>
> Some get seduced by recruiters. Pimps use
> handsome young men and sometimes girls as fronts.
>
> "A 16-year-old controlling a group of girls
> will not face the same penalties an adult would
> receive," said Patricia Crone, director of the
> Office of Juvenile Justice Demonstration Project.
>
> Once snagged, the grooming process begins.
> Typically, the pimp's friends sleep with her, then
> come threats, beatings and gang rapes. Caresses and
> gifts, including drugs and alcohol, follow abuse,
> the Atlanta Women's Agenda study found.
>
> Brittany said she was showered with fancy
> dinners, clothes and methamphetamine. But she also
> describes horror. "It made me feel dirty. It was
> demeaning," said Brittany.
>
> The sex slaves are trafficked in and out of
> cities to supply sporting events, conventions or rap
> concerts.
>
> During the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, one man
> kept boys and hosted sex parties nightly, said Baker
> of the group CEASE.
>
> The pimps even held an annual "Player's Ball"
> in Atlanta in 2003, openly buying and selling women
> and naming a "Player of the Year," according to the
> Atlanta Women's Agenda study.
>
> The risks are worth it. While there are few
> reliable statistics, child sexual exploitation is
> believed to be the world's third-biggest money maker
> for organized crime, said Stephanie Davis, policy
> adviser to Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.
>
> One reason for the demand is the false
> assumption that youths are disease-free.
>
> On the contrary, with tissues not fully
> developed, they are more prone to lacerations. HIV
> infections among females aged 16 to 21 are 50
> percent higher than for men, a 1998 study in the
> Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
> reported.
>
> Atlanta has won two new federal grants to
> establish units to fight the trafficking of underage
> sex slaves and to hire more undercover detectives,
> said Carole Morgan, director of the North Central
> Georgia Law Enforcement Academy.
>
> But the experts fear that may not be enough.
>
> "It won't stop until people say, 'My city
> isn't safe for kids anymore,'" said Crone.
>
> "This is a place where you can buy, sell or
> rent kids. It must be stopped."
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