People who engage in the sale of children for commercial sex are in every country in the world, and every state in the United States.
If you think this is a rare occurrence in San Antonio, just look back to this past July at the successful conviction by District Attorney Susan Reed's office in the case of a man charged with selling a 13-year-old for sex. This is the most lucrative of crimes, and is second in scope only to the sale in illegal drugs, according to the Department of Justice.
I have listened to tapes of mothers coercing their children for sex, and the icy coldness in their voice is more scary than the scariest of horror movies. The demand for purchased innocence is never satisfied.
Children and adults rescued from commercial sex trafficking have been forced to perform six to 40 acts per day every day. Many times the traffickers do start with one victim, and they soon have so much demand that they expand to many victims.
Since 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) has increased penalties and expands the scope of people who can be charged in the trafficking of children. No movement needs to occur, and even if the act was not completed, charges may be filed. To be a trafficking case, all that needs to be established is that any minor was attempted or intended to be sold for commercial sex.
Anyone involved in the scheme or plan to prostitute a minor under 14 may face a federal life sentence. The victims may also sue for civil damages regardless of their immigration status. I hope that all the attorneys and judges involved, including the defense attorney, have had training on these new laws and will use them to make sure they're applied in all cases involving children in commercial sex.
Civil trial attorneys should also put their skills to work to identify victims and recover amounts that would cause this crime to be more of a risk and less profitable for organizations and businesses benefiting from this multibillion-dollar industry.
The public can combat this crime by learning more about identifying commercial sexual exploitation of children, human trafficking, and connecting with local law enforcement to report suspected activities. San Antonio has some of the best law enforcement and nonprofit organizations working together to combat this issue.
This crime occurs more often than it is identified. Individuals being aware this occurs often and reporting suspected exploitation are key to making San Antonio safe for children and hostile to people who buy and sell child sex.
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Child Sex Case Shocking But Not Unusual
Dottie Laster - Special to the Express-News (San Antonio, TX)
The reported details of San Antonio's latest federal case involving the alleged sale of a child for sex are shocking, and they keep escalating as more evidence becomes public.
It would be more comfortable to assume that it is a misunderstanding or a fantasy, as one defendant's lawyer is quoted as saying, but the crimes that have been alleged are the fastest-growing in the world today.
