MN: Officials criticize article about pimps recruiting at megamall

Minneapolis Star-Tribune ^ | August 13, 2003 | Rachel Bruzzone

[jdege]

Officials criticize article about pimps recruiting at megamall

Rachel Bruzzone, Star Tribune
Published August 13, 2003

Police and Mall of America officials on Tuesday disputed a Newsweek article in which an FBI agent says the mall "is a huge recruiting center" for teen prostitution.

The story said pimps are recruiting suburban girls by buying them expensive clothes in exchange for sex.

The article, in this week's issue of the magazine, prominently featured the Bloomington mall. Interviews included one with a 16-year-old girl named Candace who said three pimps approached her while she was shopping. It also quoted FBI special agent Eileen Jacob, who contributed the quote about the mall as a recruiting center.

[...]

"We certainly acknowledge that teens may have been approached for recruitment for prostitution in the mall," he said. "We take issue with the magnitude of the problem as suggested in the article. We have absolutely no evidence to substantiate that the Mall of America is a huge recruitment center."

Catholic Charities runs an outreach program for troubled teens in the mall called Hope Street.

"It's not as though there's a huge ring of suburban girls prostituting themselves in the Mall of America," said Catholic Charities spokeswoman Leslie Johnson. "Pretty much all the agencies working with these youths have decided that we feel the article was a bit sensationalized."

Rachel Bruzzone is at rbruzzone@startribune.com

[jdege]

It's a good thing they are banning guns from the Mall - all of those law-abiding permit holders might hurt their wholesome image...

[RippleFire]

bump

[Orangedog]

"Not just some....not half...my b*tch better have all my cash!"

[Snake65]

my b*tch better have all my cash

LOL. Was it 1976 that Flyguy won pimp of the year?

[BrooklynGOP]

Well, at least that industry can't be outsourced to India.

[Spruce]

Heh, wait until they finish the light rail(boondogle) that goes from downtown Mpls. to Hugedale. The thugs won't even need to steal a car to get there then.

[Orangedog]

They import everything else at the shopping malls, why should hookers be any different?

[Orangedog]

[Snake65]

Now that's a pimp. Old school!

My favorite moment in I'm Gonna Get You Sucka is when Slammer gets ready for battle, putting something like a dozen pistols in various locations on his person. He slips after taking one step, and noisy chaos ensues. Damn that was a funny movie.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Its the goldfish in the shoes that make the outfit...

[AppyPappy]

That whole movie is a scream.

[King Prout]

sound familiar?

[AmericanInTokyo]

Those Minnesota sexpot-ettes hungry for Louis Vitton must have gotten their ideas from Tokyo, where this kind of thing has been part and parcel of the scene for nearly 15 years.

Nevertheless, one decrepit area of social decay in Tokyo called "Shibuya" (probably no more than 4 square miles, near Shibuya train station in west/central Tokyo) is NOT representative of Japan as a whole. The more you go to the suburbs and rural areas, generally speaking the more pure and innocent you see the youth in Japan. But, sad caveat to say, even that could change, IMHO.

[Johnny Gage]

wait until they finish the light rail(boondogle) that goes from downtown Mpls. to Hugedale.

HugeDale. I love it. That's my new name for the MOA.

ROFL!