Posted on 04/04/2006 11:51:00 AM PDT by iPod Shuffle
FEATURE-Sex tourism thriving in U.S. Bible Belt
Tue 4 Apr 2006 8:01 AM ET
By Verna Gates and Mickey Goodman
ATLANTA, April 4 (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."
Atlanta = "US Bible Belt"?
Nice headline, Reuters.
Atlanta isn't the "bible belt" - it's been overrun by disgruntled yankees long ago.
Since when is *Atlanta* the buckle of the Bible Belt? The buckle may well be in Georgia,but I sincerely doubt that it's Atlanta.
Should make all of the "outsourcing" foes happy. /sarc.
1864 wasn't it? Do I smell smoke?
It's cause men like Southern women. lol
""It won't stop until people say, 'My city isn't safe for kids anymore,'" said Crone."
Then there will be vigilante action. It's the only help we have, and I believe help is on the way.
Probably no one in the Atlanta P.D. bothered to interfere because they would have run into the "Cynthia McKinney Defense".
And is this different from any other major city?
Atlanta is a BIG DEMOCRATIC CONTOLLED CITY !!!
There is nothing Bible Belt about the place!
Isn't Nashville the buckle of the bible belt?
Their only recourse is to say, "Not my problem. It is caused by the religious who live among we so pure."
Atlanta thrives with many homo/hetero men on the down low and of all races.
LOL - I believe that some in these parts would welcome another Sherman moment for Atlanta.
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.
IF that is truly the reason for the drop in overseas activity, then a solution for the domestic problem seems obvious...
Anyone who knows anything about Atlanta knows that Atlanta is as far from the "Bible belt" as any city in America.
Well, except Than Franthithco.
Atlanta is a hotbed of liberalism and has been for some time.
"Isn't Nashville the buckle of the bible belt?"
The "buckle" moves, depending upon just who it is, that the MSM deems sneer-worthy at any given time.
Ensures nothing. I heard several men brag about having sex with 14 and 15-year-old girls overseas. Nothing happens.
The only thing wrong with your analogy of Atlanta is that a belt hole is an integral part of what keeps a belt together. That hardly describes Atlanta.
Perhaps Atlanta is the chad that was removed from the belt to make the hole?
I see. So to the MSM, the most tarnished city in the South, must be the buckle.
"Ensures nothing. I heard several men brag about having sex with 14 and 15-year-old girls overseas. Nothing happens."
Exactly. Like many federal laws, it exists only as a showcase. Few prosecutions take place, despite a heavy traffic to countries for sexual purposes.
It's kinda like the laws against employers hiring illegal aliens. The law is there; the enforcement isn't.
I was afraid the Yankee-hating FreeRepublic Confederates were going to jump all over me for that comment.
Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. (from the article)
are not these cities:
Jackson, Tulsa, Birmingham, Montgomery, Columbus, Little Rock, Jonesboro, Knoxville, Nashville, Lynchburg and Blackburg.
For the record, R Kelly lives in Chicago and Miami.
Rueters is on a roll today.
lol
If you will look at who is running Atlanta you will soon see it isnt Confederates.
Atlanta is a typical blighted city, surrounded by an entire state full of fantastic people. My in-laws live in the suburbs and the 'burbs are generally pretty conservative (especially Gwinnett County). And the majority of people out there avoid going into the city of Atlanta unless they have to.
Basically, Atlanta's not much more than Detroit with better weather, fewer potholes, and the Varsity.
You want the real Georgia? Go to Columbus, Savannah, Augusta, or especially Macon. My wife and I will be down in Perry (near Warner Robins, about 30 minutes south of Macon) in a couple weeks. Middle Georgia has the absolute nicest people I have ever met, anywhere, period.
}:-)4
gee, this could be part of a bedtime story...
I won't alert you to any more articles today, I promise.
Lowering of the age of consent fits right in with the normalization and legalization of "sex workers".
I live in Gwinnett county. Nice place, though people can't drive worth a flip :-P but that's because they're stupid.
I don't find it particularly surprising about the sex trade in Atlanta. Atlanta's screwed up.
The land of Ms. McKinney...
Actually, most if not all of the city of Atlanta is represented by John Lewis. While I'm not a big fan of his, he's light years better than Cynthia McKinney, who represents many of the blighted areas just southeast of the city. As someone who lives in Atlanta, it actually is a very nice city that gets a bad rap. Sure, parts of it are terrible, but most of Buckhead has some of the most beautiful neighborhoods of any city in the country (with loads of Republicans I might add). I challenge anyone who criticizes Atlanta to drive around Peachtree Battle, Habersham Road, Tuxedo Road, Valley Road, etc. and then continue to call the city a dump or a Southern Detroit. Many of the city's intown neighborhoods (such as Ansley Park, Virginia-Highland) are fantastic as well (if you can afford them). I moved here a year ago and love the city.
I want to friggen' puke. Here's an article about women and girls being abused in the worst way... an article about soem men who *really* need to be shot. And what are y'all bitching about? Whether or not Atlanta is part of the "Bible Belt."
Gah.
No offense to anyone there, but it's pretty much part of the fag belt, along with my own neck of the woods.
You are 100% correct! It's part of the fag belt. LOL!
Took the words right out of my mouth.
So, what are we supposed to do?
Say insightful things like "Yeah, I sure am against abusing girls in this way. This is bad. Sure is. Whoever is doing this is bad. I am against this sort of thing."?
No way is Atlanta the Buckle of the Bible Belt.
That's a bizarre sounding law. Shouldn't it be up to the local law enforcement of that nation to police the activity unless the arrangements for the "sex tour" were made in the USA? Otherwise, I don't see how the US maintains jurisdiction over its citizen's behaviors overseas.
This sort of explains what happens to all the run-aways and children who disappear without a trace. I'm not sure they're all innocent either.
However, not all of these underage prostitutes are on the streets though. We've seen stories of school kids pimping their classmates or girls prostituting themselves to classmates for mall money.
Underage prostitution in any major city is nothing new. If Atlanta became the buckle of the bible belt, that would be news.
People read the same article for different reasons. I read this one because of the words "bible belt" in the headline. Honestly, what attracted you to this article. Would you have read it if it had been titled "Sex tourism thriving in U.S."?
Orionblamblam, if you are being honest, you know that you didn't read this article to learn about sex tourism. You and I both know that you saw the words "bible and sex" together in the title and you just knew there would be an opportunity to criticize some Christians.
Hell, making fun of sex and Christians is almost as fun as science and Christians.
It doesn't matter how illegal it is. You only get a conviction with evidence and testimony. In the absence of US feds going overseas for a "sting", it won't happen.
Having lots of unenforcible laws on the books is very convenient if you decide you get to "get" somebody for something, either because you don't like him, or you can use him to infiltrate some organization in exchange for leniency
Would any paper get away with printing "Underage prostitution rampant in mostly black cities"
A much more appropriate headline would be:
-Sex tourism thriving in Democrat Party dominated city (Atlanta)
> if you are being honest, you know that you didn't read this article to learn about sex tourism.
True. Because I already *have* some knowledge of it, and I have some knowledge of the evil involved. It is a topic that interests me, because I happen to have a personal stake in hating the people who run these operations.
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