Child Sex Trafficking on the Internet | Selling the Girl Next Door | Documentary
Selling the Girl Next Door takes viewers into the world of underage American girls caught up in the violent sex trade. Thousands of girls under the age of 18 are ensnared into lives of prostitution annually, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Many are runaways or "throwaways" trapped in "the oldest profession" by pimps who sell them using modern sales and marketing techniques, including the online classified website Backpage.com.
In a statement dated December 28, 2011 Backpage.com said it is "committed to preventing those who are intent on misusing the site for illegal purposes." Click on the following link to read an up-to-date list of the safety measures backpage.com says it is taking
In a year-long investigation, CNN correspondent Amber Lyon reveals the devastating realities of the business of underage sex -- speaking to a young teen runaway sold online from a Las Vegas hotel, the men that obsessively seek Internet sex connections, and women long into careers as sex workers who were trafficked as teens or children.
Along the way, Lyon interviews well-known brothel owner Dennis Hof. Hof's sex workers describe their own dark pasts and the frightening underworld of underage sex trafficking.
Lyon also goes undercover herself, posting an online ad, and taking calls from solicitors -- and Internet pimps -- to understand more about how girls are victimized by traffickers.
An interactive map on CNN.com shares Lyon's coast-to-coast journey -- from Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee and Nevada -- trailing runaways, finding their families, meeting sex workers, and visiting a "Johns' school" where convicted solicitors are forced to face the social and criminal consequences of their actions.
In a statement dated December 28, 2011 Backpage.com said it is "committed to preventing those who are intent on misusing the site for illegal purposes." Click on the following link to read an up-to-date list of the safety measures backpage.com says it is taking
In a year-long investigation, CNN correspondent Amber Lyon reveals the devastating realities of the business of underage sex -- speaking to a young teen runaway sold online from a Las Vegas hotel, the men that obsessively seek Internet sex connections, and women long into careers as sex workers who were trafficked as teens or children.
Along the way, Lyon interviews well-known brothel owner Dennis Hof. Hof's sex workers describe their own dark pasts and the frightening underworld of underage sex trafficking.
Lyon also goes undercover herself, posting an online ad, and taking calls from solicitors -- and Internet pimps -- to understand more about how girls are victimized by traffickers.
An interactive map on CNN.com shares Lyon's coast-to-coast journey -- from Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee and Nevada -- trailing runaways, finding their families, meeting sex workers, and visiting a "Johns' school" where convicted solicitors are forced to face the social and criminal consequences of their actions.
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00:00My name is winter. This is how it works. I would love to meet new people. I'm 17.
00:13You're 17 years old. So these guys would try to have sex with you? Yeah. Did they
00:20know that you were 13? No. Men buying girls barely into their teens online.
00:26Would you say they were 14, 15? I don't know. You don't know? The sex trade has moved off
00:35of the streets and onto the web and the girls are getting younger and younger.
00:40She's a child. It's disgusting. This is how the girl next door gets sold.
00:51Las Vegas, Nevada. 35 million Americans come here every year. It's a non-stop party out
01:05on the strip, but if you look past the carefully marketed glitz, you're gonna find one of America's
01:11dirty little secrets. $89, huh? Teenage girls, some barely past puberty, routinely bought
01:24and sold for the pleasure of grown men. And every year, hundreds end up right here at
01:35the Clark County Juvenile Detention Facility. How many 13-year-olds do you usually see?
01:39A few. Every once in a while we get 11, 12, and 13-year-olds. So we're just heading back to the
01:44holding room where these girls stay while they wait for the judge to call them and hear their
01:49case. How you doing? This is Amber. Where is everyone from? Chicago. And you? Detroit. From
02:02Detroit. And? Washington State. Washington State. So no one here is from Las Vegas. This is called
02:09a belly chain, and all the girls have these around them. This is where we first meet 13-year-old
02:19Selena, just another girl next door turned into a product, sold by pimps, used by men.
02:26Backpage.com? Yeah, I was on Backpage.com, and I went on the track. All that. I did all that, so.
02:33How old were you? 12. 12? Yeah. She was caught in a casino by undercover police and locked up.
02:42According to the law, Selena is a sex trafficking victim, not a criminal. But like most underage
02:48girls who are sex trafficked, she has a history of running away from home. And that's a dangerous
02:54thing in cities across America where pimps are always looking out for girls who are out on the
02:59streets alone. Here at least, she's safe. What is it like when you're all alone in your room
03:07and in your cell? It makes you think a lot, and you get real depressed, like real depressed. I just
03:12like want to cry. I'm like, I cannot believe I'm in here. Like I always tell myself, I'm never locked
03:16up, and now here I am locked up. Selena moved here with her mom from Detroit three years ago.
03:22When did you start noticing that there was a problem? I think,
03:27she was about, she was 11. You know, little things that, you know, a cigarette, a joint,
03:33some beer that you think is just gonna pass, and then it just didn't pass. She did great in sixth
03:39grade. Excellent A's, B's. And then by the end of seventh grade, it's just the crowd that she was
03:44hanging around with, and just her whole attitude went, her schoolwork went. Then Selena started
03:50running away. Me and my mom got in a fight, and I was like, wait, I'm leaving, and she was like,
03:54okay, and I left. So you and your mom got in a fight. You ran away. You were walking
03:59down near the Vegas Strip, and some guy pulls up. Yeah, I was at the bus stop, and then he said,
04:05oh, do you need a ride? And I was like, yeah, I do. How much did you like this guy? I liked him
04:11a lot. Like I was like, like straight up obsessed, not obsessed, but I was like, oh my god, he's so
04:16cute. And like, it wasn't like, oh, bitch, go give me money. That wasn't like that at first,
04:22but then it got like that. She's an absolute ham. Yeah, she is. They live in a suburb outside Las
04:30Vegas. Selena's mother is a middle school teacher. This is her when she was little. Look at how
04:35adorable she was. It's just little things that she got along the way. This is her little Bible
04:41thing from Bible school. It's her little angel doll. So it's just little things that she has.
04:47Who's Vinny? She said, rest in peace, Vinny. I don't even know. You don't even know who he is?
04:52Nope. Richie, she's got a heart next to him. What do you know about what's been happening
04:59to your daughter on the streets? I don't. I don't know. I mean, honestly, I don't know
05:04what's happening. I only know what she tells me, and she doesn't really tell me anything.
05:08You think she's worried if she told you that you might be really upset with her? I think she's
05:15embarrassed, to be honest, because I've told her, you know, somebody is going to give you something
05:19of too many pills or whatever, and they're going to use you for what they want to use you for,
05:22and you're done for. Her mother sent Selena to therapists, tried tough love, but nothing has
05:28worked. Selena's mom is certain that if she comes home again, she'll run. She wants to leave so bad
05:36that it becomes like a struggle. A couple times before, I'm like, you are not leaving,
05:42and this is the middle of nowhere. Like, how do you get anywhere? So I followed her in my car. She
05:49like just sped across to the next stop, and she was gone that fast.
05:56Selena was sold by a man and a woman over the website backpage.com for the standard rate of
06:01$300 an hour, $150 for the half.
06:08Did you ever want to run away and go back home and see your mom or call the police or someone
06:14to help you? If I ran away, I was going to get killed, and if I told the cops, I was going to
06:18get killed. Even the littlest things could have got me killed, the littlest things. They could
06:22get anybody killed. And the guys that call you, how old are they? You don't know until they walk
06:29through the door. You walk through their door, like, they could sound like they were like 21.
06:34You walk in, they're like old and disgusting. Did it make you feel kind of disgusting? It made me
06:39feel, oh, it made me feel so nasty. I would just want to shower and just be like, oh, it's so
06:43disgusting. And it never made me feel pretty, not one time. And at this point, how many guys were
06:49you seeing a day? At that point, like, five, four. Four or five guys a day?
07:11But Selena is hardly alone. There are hundreds of thousands of girls just like her across America.
07:18And for the first time in the long history of the oldest profession,
07:21there's a powerful new tool for people who seek profit or pleasure from underage girls,
07:27the internet. Crystal, Samantha, Destiny. Undetected, out of sight, and happening every day
07:36in every corner of America. Say you pick up the phone, you find a girl you like on Backpage.com,
07:43call her and meet with her. How long does that usually take?
07:4630 minutes. So you can get a girl as quick as you could get a pizza? Yeah.
08:13Does anyone need a mask? Does everyone have one?
08:19We're giving these guys ski masks to conceal their identities.
08:23Here you go. There you go. Over here. All right. These men have pled guilty to soliciting
08:30prostitutes. None of them pleaded guilty to soliciting a minor. They're attending John's
08:35School here in Nashville, Tennessee, in order to wipe their records clean. They're going to spend
08:41eight hours in class learning about STDs, the effects of prostitution on the community,
08:46and the risk of prison time if they get caught again. Raise your hand if you're in your 20s.
08:52So we have one, two, 30s, 40s, 50 years old. Okay, we got one, two, three, 60s, 70s.
09:01One. Anyone 80s? One. They're everybody. They are rich, poor, medium income. They are every
09:11ethnicity. They're married, single, divorced. It is the most diverse crowd I've ever seen for any
09:16type of crime that there is. Antoinette Welch is an assistant district attorney for Davidson
09:21County, Tennessee. She used to be a police officer who spent almost a decade out on the
09:27streets undercover, posing as a prostitute, busting johns. A lot of these girls that are
09:34being pimped out on the internet now are underage girls. By law, they are children.
09:42Y'all better be real careful if you decide to do it again, because I guarantee you're
09:45going to eventually get some underage girl, and you're going to get popped for it. And
09:49when you're convicted, you'll be on the sex registry for the rest of your life. Think about
09:54that. How many of you guys are married? 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. Could you just say
10:06one word that describes what you do for a living? Computer programmer. Computer programmer.
10:12Auto mechanic. Auto mechanic. Trucking. Trucking. Landscaper. Landscaper. Construction.
10:19Construction. Retired. Retired. Transport. Transport. Forklift operator. Forklift operator.
10:27Okay. Computers. Computers. Computer programmer. A third of the men in this room were caught
10:33buying a prostitute on the online classified site Backpage.com. What exactly do you do? Do you do
10:39it from your living room, from work, and then from your cell phone? You can actually surf
10:44Backpage on your cell phone? No. And how many times a week? Two or three. If you don't mind
10:51me asking, sir, do you have a family? Yeah. Do they know that... No. They don't know?
10:56But I want those parts of the site to be gone. He's a businessman in his 50s. He's married,
11:01and he has kids. When some people watch this interview, they're going to be really upset
11:05with you. How can this guy pay for sex? How can he buy women like commodities?
11:13What would you say to that? I feel like I have an addiction. To sex? Yes.
11:21I think it's an escape, and there's no strings attached. So how long does it take you? Say you
11:27pick up the phone, you find a girl you like on Backpage.com, call her, and meet with her. How
11:31long does that usually take? 30 minutes. So you can get a girl as quick as you could get a pizza?
11:39Yeah. Well, Backpage tells us that the girls posting under the escort section
11:44aren't selling sex. What do you say to that? You gotta be kidding. You gotta be kidding.
11:52What are they selling then? We are on Dickerson Road. This is a known area of prostitution.
12:06So this is the track of Nashville, Dickerson Road? Dickerson Road, yes.
12:09Kenny Baker is program director for the Johns School.
12:13Over the years, have you seen more or less girls out here walking the track?
12:17You know, as times change and the technology moves forward, we're seeing less street-level
12:23prostitution, and we're seeing more of the stuff on Backpage. So they're really using the web a
12:29lot more. 13-year-old Selina's pimp sold her to men on Backpage.com out of cheap hotel rooms near
12:39Las Vegas. We snuck in some contraband, a Coca-Cola. So look at that face. So I'm checking
12:47it real quick so she doesn't get in trouble. Did they know that you were 13? No, no. Well,
12:56the guy I was with at the time told me to tell everybody that I was 19 or 18. So I did.
13:03So this guy you were with, was he your pimp? Yeah.
13:10Did any guy ever say to you, you know what, you look like you might not be 18. Come on,
13:15what's your real age? No, because they didn't care. They didn't care if I was, even if I was
13:19like five years old, they wouldn't care because they're having sex with somebody. So they wouldn't
13:23care. This is her in the D.A.R.E. program. Who would have guessed? What would you say to these
13:31guys who are paying for sex with your daughter? It's disgusting. I think the whole, I think our
13:40whole society is so out of control with accepting this and saying that it's okay. And you know,
13:45it is what it is. She's a child. Did you ever suspect that any of the girls that you found
13:56were underage and lied about their age? Yes. Did you find those girls on backpage.com?
14:05Yes. And by being underage, would you say they were 14, 15? I don't know. You don't know.
14:15They're only thinking about themselves and not about anything else, only their immediate needs.
14:24And not about these girls? No, they're not even, no, it's just an object.
14:32Well, I mean, I believe that Backpage is responsible for this. I mean, again,
14:39it should be taken away. The whole thing doesn't have to be gone. Just the escort section? Yeah,
14:43the escort section, the adult section should be gone. So you're saying Backpage just normalizes
14:48the whole process. You go on, you buy furniture, you find a job, you buy a girl. Yes. Yes.
14:58Coming up, young, sweet, bubbly, all things that could indicate she's underage.
15:03Do these websites know what's going on? Do they care? What are you guys doing to protect these
15:09girls?
15:40Look closely at these escort ads on the internet-classified site Backpage.com.
15:46Can you tell how old these girls are?
15:54A couple months ago, Selena's face was on the front of one of these online ads.
15:59Her pimp was forcing her to sell her 13-year-old body to strange men for sex.
16:05So this guy, your pimp, what happened if you hid some of the money?
16:09Then I'll get out of my ass book. He would beat you? Yeah.
16:15Selena's real father has been absent from her life.
16:19She says that keeps her up at night writing songs about the dad she doesn't know.
16:24Don't look at me. Close your eyes. I'm not looking at you. Okay. Okay, go.
16:30All the hoe's daddy daughter dances that I had to go to alone. It just made me groan.
16:41You wrote that? Yeah. That's really impressive. Really? Who did you write that about? My dad.
16:47About your dad? Pimps across America prey on girls like Selena,
16:55luring them in with gifts and love, and then selling them for sex online.
17:01And it's become more profitable than ever.
17:07The internet is plastered with lies, but this is one of the boldest.
17:12The term escort. Websites like Backpage.com that advertise escorts make it clear that the site is
17:19not to be used by anyone offering, quote, sexual favors for money. But come on, we all know what's
17:25often being sold here is sex. What would happen when guys responded to your ads on Backpage?
17:35I was in Mortel 6, so they were gonna be on. How many guys a day would you see?
17:40Uh, I don't know. It depends on the day. Like, sometimes like two or three or four.
17:47Last year, we investigated the internet site Craigslist. Victims' advocates called Craigslist
17:52adult services section the Walmart of child sex trafficking. We posted an ad to see what was up.
17:59So I want to show you how easy it is for these pimps to use Craigslist to sell their girls.
18:03We're suggesting with our ad that we could possibly be underage with words like
18:09sweet, innocent, new girl in town. This could be an ad for an underage girl,
18:14so we're going to see what kind of calls we get.
18:18And when the calls came in, there was no question what these guys wanted.
18:22Yeah, this is Ashley.
18:25200. I do both.
18:29Oh, we have another call.
18:30Hello.
18:36Excuse me?
18:43200. What do you mean is everything covered? Maybe I go 150.
18:47Excuse me? We can discuss that when you get here.
18:54Look at the photo on this one.
18:56And there's another big lie when it comes to online sex ads, and that's age. If an ad says
19:02a girl is, say, 13, it's going to be immediately banned. So pimps sell the girls using code words
19:09like young, fresh, innocent. When we took an ad that was loaded with code words to Craigslist
19:16founder Craig Newmark, he was unable to answer a simple question. I mean, what do you think
19:21she's selling in her bra and underwear? A dinner date? I don't know what this is.
19:26What are you guys doing to protect these girls?
19:36Our investigation helped spark a national conversation and outrage.
19:41Attorneys general from all across the nation sent this letter out to Craigslist. They are
19:47calling on Craigslist to completely shut down the adult services sections.
19:51Just weeks later...
19:52Over the weekend, Craigslist shut down its adult services section,
19:55slapping a censored label in its place on its website.
19:59But when Craigslist shut down the adult services section, the pimps and the johns migrated to the
20:04next most popular site, Backpage.com, where you can buy a car, a used couch, or an underage girl
20:12for sex. Backpage charges five bucks per escort ad, and according to the internet research firm,
20:18The AIM Group, Backpage.com's monthly earnings jumped by more than a million dollars after
20:24Craigslist took the adult services section down. Backpage is projected to earn more than $20
20:30million from its adult ads alone in 2010.
20:36We found cases of underage girls being sold for sex on Backpage.com all over the country.
20:43Backpage is owned by the Village Voice Media Group, and chances are, you've seen one of their
20:49publications.
20:49Seattle Weekly, Miami New Times, Riverfront Times.
20:54We've been trying for months to talk to top management at Village Voice Media,
20:58including President Jim Larkin, about the sale of underage girls on the site. He refused to talk to
21:05us. Last fall, Backpage hired internet security advisor, Hemu Nigam, to talk to us about the
21:13implementation of a, quote, a holistic plan centered around preventing criminal activity
21:17on our site. What is their holistic plan? We don't know, because Hemu Nigam wouldn't talk to us.
21:25On his website, Nigam promised to look into what impactful changes can be made to provide
21:30a safer site. The most obvious change, the full-on nudity on Backpage.com, is gone.
21:37But ads like this are still everywhere. And the men who use Backpage, they haven't changed.
21:46How old are you?
21:48I'm 17. You sound like you could be my dad.
21:5117, you're 17 years old. What do you think we should do about it?
21:57What do you want me to do?
21:59Wanna f*** you.
22:01Coming up, my name is Winter.
22:03Tell me if you want it, if the price is right, then I'm here.
22:08I post an ad on Backpage.com.
22:10Today, I'm actually heading out to be sex-trafficked as a 17-year-old girl.
22:16My client is a 17-year-old teen. We do anything we do, we do corporate.
22:20That way, we don't have to worry about any type of wood issues, if you know what I mean.
22:45I'm going to sell myself for sex on Backpage.com,
23:06just like a 12-year-old girl we found was sold on the site.
23:09We posted an ad under escorts on Backpage's Tennessee site,
23:14almost identical to an ad used to sell a 12-year-old girl we found.
23:19That picture is me when I was a young teenager.
23:23I gotta tell you, it was quite awkward calling my dad and asking him to send me a picture
23:28of myself when I was 14 so I could post a sex ad online.
23:33I have a copy here of her exact ad.
23:37It says, my name is Winter and I would love to meet new people.
23:40Ad price, five bucks. They posted it online.
23:43So there I am at 14, and let's see if we get any calls.
23:49Four minutes later, the phone rings.
23:52Hello?
23:53I tell the callers I'm underage. It doesn't seem to matter.
23:57Hello?
23:58This is Alan. I saw your ad on Backpage and I was wondering what your rate.
24:06I was wondering if you're available tonight.
24:09How old are you, Matt? You sound kind of young.
24:11I'm 34.
24:13I'm 16.
24:1516. Okay.
24:18Oh gosh, we got another one.
24:21Hello? What are you looking for?
24:25Sex.
24:25Oh, you're looking for sex? Okay.
24:27I'm not old enough to drink. I'm 17. I can't, I don't have a fake ID.
24:33Oh really? You're 17?
24:34Mm-hmm.
24:35Oh, that's good.
24:41I just got woken up by my pay-as-you-go phone ringing.
24:47What's your name?
24:49Ronnie.
24:50I'm 17. You sound like you could be my dad.
24:5317? You're 17 years old?
24:56Yep, I'm 17.
24:58Why would I want to even consider having sex with a 17-year-old woman who's underage?
25:05No one needs to find out.
25:08That's exactly what I said.
25:11Well, what do you think we should do about it?
25:15What do you want me to do?
25:17I want to f*** you.
25:19You want to f*** me?
25:24Today I'm actually heading out to be sex-trafficked as a 17-year-old girl.
25:30Hello?
25:31Ended up getting a call yesterday from a guy who says he's working for a high-rolling client,
25:37a 60-year-old-plus guy who's really interested in me.
25:40He likes my photos from my ad.
25:50One thing led to another.
25:52Now I'm being sent to North Carolina to meet this guy he just called.
25:56I tell the caller that I'm underage, but it doesn't matter.
25:59He still arranges the meeting.
26:03Hello?
26:03I even get a call to set up my hotel room.
26:07How you doing?
26:08It's all processed for me for five days.
26:10I need to basically borrow some things.
26:11Just say what you want in your suite.
26:13What you want stocked or mini bar.
26:16Okay, I'll just have the suite fully stocked.
26:19You have to be very discreet.
26:22Okay, I'll be discreet.
26:23On the way to North Carolina, the caller entices us to keep driving.
26:28He just sent me a couple images of a cashier's check they have waiting for us for $35,000.
26:34He's been telling me all morning he wants to just prove to me
26:36that they're legit.
26:38Okay, you got everything?
26:39Yeah, I got everything.
26:41So that the check's real and everything, right?
26:44Oh yeah, got it, yes.
26:47The hotel was in the middle of nowhere.
26:49An easy place for a 17-year-old to go missing.
26:53So we brought security.
26:54So I'm going to be wearing this shirt and right here is our hidden button cam.
26:59You've got entrance to the hotel.
27:01Okay.
27:03You go through a revolving set of doors and then the main lobby area is in front of you.
27:10So we're heading out to the car.
27:12The guy who was trying to sell me told me to buy
27:15half a dozen disposable credit cards from the local supermarket.
27:18Common sense would tell you, sweetie,
27:20if you don't get your cards, I mean, you got $30,000 waiting on you.
27:23Take them to the hotel.
27:25So the main thing is you getting what you need to get down, get paid, get a good sleep.
27:29And he'd transfer all of the money onto my new cards.
27:32We scoped out the meeting place and confirmed that this offer was real.
27:37I could only afford one card, but I have it here.
27:39So whatever we can do now, I could get more tomorrow.
27:48But since I wasn't about to sleep with anybody for money, we pulled the plug.
27:52The point where we stopped is the start for so many underage prostitutes.
28:03Next, we'll take you to the most famous legal brothel in America
28:08to hear what its owner thinks of these pimps who sell underage girls.
28:12Pimps are the worst leeches in the world.
28:14And we'll hear from the women who work at the cat house.
28:17I've been in the game since I was 13.
28:19Women who got started in the oldest profession way too young.
28:50We're here on the Las Vegas Strip where you can buy tickets to a show,
28:59a five-star dinner, and also a woman.
29:03If you've ever walked down here at night, you probably heard that sound.
29:05It's like all these guys up and down the Strip with these cards and magazines.
29:13Behind the obvious advertising, there's a hidden trade in underage girls.
29:20And huge hidden profits.
29:27According to one study, pimps pull in anywhere from $150,000 to $500,000 a year.
29:36We wanted to know more about the business of selling girls,
29:39so we met a guy who knows more about that than anyone.
29:42Hi honey, how are you?
29:43Because there's a lot of sexual trafficking going on in Las Vegas.
29:46Dennis Hoff.
29:47He's been called America's pimp master general,
29:50but he considers himself a businessman.
29:54I love it.
29:55And what he does is legal.
29:57I have a show on HBO called Cat House.
29:59Hoff is the owner of the most famous legal brothel in America,
30:03the Moonlight Bunny Ranch.
30:08It's the setting for HBO's long-running reality series, Cat House.
30:12People love the sex business, and I love being a part of it.
30:15What he doesn't love are pimps.
30:17You think pimps just suck.
30:20Pimps are the worst leeches in the world.
30:22It's in Birmingham, it's Charleston, it's everywhere.
30:26It's everywhere in America.
30:28There are pimps that are trying to grab the life of young girls
30:32and take them away from their families.
30:35And what types of money are pimps pulling in?
30:39Oh, tens of thousands of dollars a week.
30:41A week?
30:42Oh yeah, absolutely.
30:43What is it with underage girls?
30:45Do pimps make more money off them?
30:47Why are there so many underage girls?
30:49They're easily manipulated.
30:51They're young, they're naive.
30:53But the price they pay is horrendous.
31:01We're driving right now to Lyon County, Nevada,
31:04to talk with Dennis Hoff and go see his bunny ranch.
31:07You know, you hear names on the street,
31:09people calling prostitutes sluts, hoes, whores.
31:13But what a lot of people in this country don't realize
31:16is that the majority of prostitutes out there
31:18started in the business as sex trafficking victims.
31:22Hoff says that he wants to set the record straight.
31:25Let the public know that life in his legal brothel
31:28is a far cry from the lives of most American prostitutes.
31:36Ladies, this is Amber.
31:37She's here visiting.
31:38She'll spend some time with you girls, wants to meet you all.
31:40They get scheduled every month or two,
31:42come in and make their money,
31:43and go back home and lead their life.
31:46Want me to walk you around and show you everything?
31:48Yeah, yeah.
31:48There's just rooms down here,
31:49and the girls decorate them like they want.
31:52Yeah, we want people to be comfortable.
31:54LED plasma TVs.
31:56Yeah, it looks just like a regular bedroom.
31:58What is this?
31:59This is a swing.
32:00I don't quite know how this works.
32:03Ooh, that was really easy.
32:07Let's move on to the next room.
32:09It's just boobs in the hallway.
32:11It's just boobs.
32:12The women here are in the safest
32:14and most profitable environment possible for a sex worker.
32:17This is used one day a week for a couple hours.
32:20They're tested weekly for STDs,
32:22they have panic buttons in their rooms
32:24that they can hit if a client gets out of line,
32:26and they also keep half of their cash.
32:30Some make six-figure incomes.
32:33Have you ever marketed a girl as being just turned 18?
32:37Oh, absolutely.
32:38But is there really a difference between 17 and 45 weeks
32:42and 18 years old?
32:43Our congressmen need to work that out.
32:45They're the ones that made the decision that when you're 18,
32:48that you can join the military, you can kill people,
32:51you can do porn, or you can work at the bunny ranch.
32:54Do you ever worry that girls watch the show Cat House
32:57and see how well the girls are treated here
32:59and think, wow, I want to be a prostitute,
33:01I'm going to be treated that well too,
33:03and then they end up on the streets
33:04in the hands of a pimp?
33:05I don't want anybody to be in the illegal prostitution world.
33:08It's awful, it's terrible,
33:10and they're preyed upon by everybody.
33:12So I know you guys are all of age now
33:14and you're in the business now legally,
33:16but how many of you were sex trafficked,
33:19underage when you started in the business?
33:21Can you raise your hand real high?
33:24So we have one, two, three.
33:25We counted hands and asked the women
33:28to tell us their stories.
33:30I'm from Seattle and I started hauling when I was 16.
33:33I got started in the sex industry when I was 15.
33:37I've been in the game since I was 13.
33:39All were effectively sex slaves,
33:42controlled by pimps,
33:44and all were sold online.
33:47What happened if you didn't get calls?
33:49If you didn't get any response from Backpage,
33:50what would your pimp do to you then?
33:52We had to be out on the street
33:53and we had a $500 minimum,
33:56and if we didn't make our minimum,
33:58then we had to basically stay out there
34:02until he told us to come in.
34:04Jazzy was trafficked by a pimp named Sweet.
34:08I was 15 at the time
34:10and that was when Sweet wasn't so sweet.
34:13What percentage of the money
34:14that you made turning tricks
34:16did you give to your pimp?
34:17There's no percentage.
34:19They get all of it.
34:20They get all of it.
34:23Actually, they get raped out there.
34:26I was more scared of I wanted to live
34:29than to fight for being raped,
34:32so I just kind of sat there.
34:34I just kind of laid there
34:37because I wanted to see my mom
34:39and I wanted to see my dad again.
34:46Virginity wasn't an option.
34:48Where I came from, you know,
34:49it was tooken from you.
34:50So when you...
34:52When you get into the game
34:53or when you have somebody telling you,
34:56you know, you can sleep with me for money
34:58and you already lost your virginity,
34:59it's like, why not?
35:00Like, you know, it's like, why not?
35:04You know, sex is...
35:05It's not as sacred as it once was.
35:12When we come back...
35:13I want to go home.
35:14That's all I want.
35:15So I'm going to go home.
35:16I'm going to go home.
35:17I'm going to go home.
35:18I'm going to go home.
35:18I'm going to go home.
35:19I'm going to go home.
35:19I'm going to go home.
35:20I'm going to go home.
35:21Selena's fate is decided.
35:51SELENA'S FATE
35:53SELENA'S FATE
36:01Federal law says that if you're under eighteen
36:03and you're being sold for sex,
36:04you're a victim,
36:06not a criminal.
36:07That's the law.
36:08But for thousands of American girls
36:10who get arrested every year in prostitution charges,
36:14this is the reality.
36:16Belly chains, ankle cuffs,
36:19a locked cell.
36:19Chained up?
36:20Oh yeah.
36:21Susan Roski is a public defender for the girls here.
36:24Is it hard for you to see them come out with belly chains like they are real prisoners?
36:29It's so hard.
36:30And I can't imagine being the parent of one of these girls seeing it.
36:34Society looks at them like they're whores.
36:36They're just prostitutes.
36:37Not seeing them as children that are being manipulated and abused.
36:42It's pretty crazy if you think about it.
36:44But in counties all across America, the only place to put these victims is detention centers.
36:50To lock them up.
36:51To keep them from roaming back out onto the streets and back into the hands of their pimps.
36:56This is Fritz Rietz and he's going to give us a tour of the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center.
37:00This is the facility where these juvenile sex trafficking victims are being held.
37:05Well unfortunately, there's not a lot of options in terms of resources and where else alternatives to put for us.
37:12The best resource our country has right now to take care of these juvenile sex trafficking victims is this.
37:18Three inch mattress.
37:20Cement.
37:21They don't have any pictures on the walls.
37:23No TV.
37:24Nasty looking toilets.
37:26They're locked in here at night.
37:29Just like a prisoner.
37:32This is where 13-year-old Selena, who was sold for sex by a pimp on Backpage.com, is being held.
37:39It's the Clark County Juvenile Detention Facility.
37:43Nobody thinks that these kids should be locked up, but nobody wants to risk turning them loose.
37:49Well this is a good example of one.
37:50Judge William Voy is the family court judge in charge of Selena's case.
37:55He keeps an old case on his desk to remind him why these girls need to be safe.
38:00She was released on the February 7th and she was found dead on February 10th.
38:10She was murdered and her throat was cut.
38:12You can always theorize that, yeah, maybe they'd be alive.
38:15But this one, I know it. I know it.
38:17So why do you keep this case on your desk every day?
38:21I keep it here because it reminds me that if I had that house, she'd be alive.
38:25Judge Voy is trying to get funding for an alternative to the jail.
38:30A safe house for the girls who cycle in and out of his courtroom.
38:34Judge Voy right now is driving us out to an area of town where they've been planning to build a facility for these juvenile sex trafficking victims.
38:42It starts right here.
38:43It's not a detention center. It's not an institution.
38:46You have bedrooms instead of cells.
38:48Looks like another wealthy homeowner in Vegas, right?
38:53And that's what we want it to look like.
38:54These kids are messed up in a lot of different ways and they need a lot of help.
38:59Voy says private donors will pay for the land and the building.
39:02All he needs is $700,000 a year from the county to pay for probation officers.
39:08But the county won't pay.
39:10We can't get to the next level and it's extremely frustrating.
39:14It's not just this county.
39:16There are almost no places for these girls anywhere in America.
39:20And all the federal funding for sex trafficking victims has gone to foreign girls.
39:25American girls have been shut out.
39:28Girls like 13-year-old Selena.
39:30Now stuck in jail.
39:35Oh my God, that's the favorite picture in the world.
39:38I love my little sister more than anything in the world.
39:41Oh my God, I miss her so much.
39:43Selena wants more than anything, just to go home to be with her little sister.
39:47Today, Judge Voy and Selena's mom are trying to figure out what's best for her.
39:52I want to be with my family.
39:54I want to watch my little sister grow up in my hands, my defense.
39:57And when I go home, I swear, for the first time in my life, I'm sorry for the things I've done.
40:01And I'd do anything to be home with my family.
40:04You said that with only one breath.
40:07So, you're my best judge right here.
40:09Because you're my best judge.
40:11You're my best judge.
40:13You're my best judge.
40:14With only one breath.
40:16So, you're my best judge right here.
40:18Because, you know, this child.
40:20Of course I want my child to come home.
40:22But we need a plan.
40:24I mean, it's not...
40:26No, I understand what you're saying.
40:28And now she's saying all this, I want to go home, that's all I want.
40:30But she's not going home.
40:32Because no one can say for sure that she won't just run away.
40:35Back to the streets.
40:37Back to the pimps.
40:39So are we going to be in here for like another month?
40:42I don't want to go home.
40:47Selena's mother is burnt out.
40:49Terrified Selena will run again and vanish forever.
40:53It's horrible.
40:55You hear everywhere of kids, you know, being picked up and you never ever see them again.
41:00So, it's a horrible feeling.
41:02And no matter how many times that I talk to her about it,
41:05it's just like she's just not getting it.
41:07She's not.
41:08Selena's mother is a teacher and she's used to dealing with kids.
41:12But her daughter is a mystery.
41:15You know, just to have a kid that actually just goes to school and comes home.
41:19And does their homework and, you know, watches TV, you know.
41:24I'm sorry.
41:27It's tough.
41:29I don't want to, you know, take away anything from her because she's great in her own way.
41:34It's just, I don't know, I feel like she's lost, to be honest.
41:38I do.
41:40Selena is now getting help through a court-ordered drug treatment program in another state.
41:46But her future is uncertain at best.
41:59There are thousands of girls just like her.
42:03Caught up in an industry driven by lust and greed.
42:06Now online.
42:08And better than ever.
42:11It's selling the girl next door.