US men accused of running child sex ring.

Thirteen men in Pennsylvania, USA have been accused of trafficking girls as young as 12 years old into forced prostitution. Judges and law enforcement officers noticed that they were arresting and charging the same young girls over and over again. Often they had the money already prepared to pay the fine. It became clear that they were being controlled by a child sex gang and forced to work truck stops in the Toledo area. Many of the girls were from north Ohio. One of the accused claimed that the young girls were working of their own accord;

“She’s choosing the best investment for her money,” he said. “The prosecutors are trying to make it like a bunch of us running around with candy in our pocket, going to parks and picking up little kids. It wasn’t like that at all - period.”

In fact, it is illegal to employ a 14 year old as a prostitute and taking these girls across state lines could mean that the men are charged with human trafficking.

“They just become accustomed to that lifestyle,” Chip Burrus, the FBI’s acting assistant director for criminal investigations said, “You can’t consent to be a prostitute at age 14.”