Prostitution the New Gang Business in California
ANDERSON: The following report is one of a series of stories which we believe must be told. CNN is devoting an entire year to bringing you a special series of reports that uncover the dark and disturbing roles of modern day slavery. In tonight, the story of one woman trapped in a violent gang and the horrific situation she was forced to endure. Thelma Gutierrez reports.</s>JESSICA": If I wanted to post an ad.</s>THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Each day, this young woman we'll call "Jessica" spends hours on the internet, posting provocative photos of herself and fishing for clients. People who would pay her to have sex. "</s>JESSICA": Mine (ph) used to say Latina, variably 18 years old.</s>GUTIERREZ (voice over): "Jessica" worked as a prostitute in the booming internet sex trade. But she didn't work for herself. She says she had a pimp who set a quota of $1000 a day. Money that took about 10 days to earn. "Jessica" told me she was afraid of her pimp. But, if she didn't work, she didn't eat. Faint, she once went five days without food. "</s>JESSICA": I thought I was going to die of starvation.</s>GUTIERREZ (on camera): You had to work not for pay, but to get fed. "</s>JESSICA": To get fed.</s>GUTIERREZ (voice over): "Jessica" is afraid to be identified because she says her pimp is a gang member. Two years ago when she was a 19 year old runaway she said she became the physical property of a California gang. Where prostitutes, many of them underage, are often branded with tattoos, bearing the gangs insignia or their pimps' names. Lieutenant Valencia Saadat says law enforcement is beginning to look at prostitutes as potential victims of sex trafficking.</s>VALENCIA SAADAT, LIEUTENANT, OCEANSIDE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Rather than just focus on the -- the women that are out here in the streets, focus on the reason that they're here. The people who place them here.</s>GUTIERREZ (voice over): Three warring gang factions in Oceanside, California, laid down their weapons to form, what investigators say, is a profitable business enterprise. To traffic and prostitute women and girls throughout California.</s>ADAM KNOWLAND, SERGENT, OCEANSIDE POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is one of the biggest investigations we've had in Oceanside's history, actually.</s>GUTIERREZ (voice over): Sergeant Adam Knowland says Oceanside vice Detectives led the 18 month long investigation into the Crips' enterprise and found the business was moving away from selling drugs to selling women. And, the internet was there most powerful tool.</s>GUTIERREZ (on camera): This is new territory for the gangs,</s>KNOWLAND: Yes.</s>GUTIERREZ (on camera): Profitable?</s>KNOWLAND: Very profitable. If you sell your drugs you have to go replenish your supply. Here you have a girl that you're prostituting out; you don't have to find another girl.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FBI, search warrant, open up.</s>GUTIERREZ (voice over): The investigation resulted in the federal indictment of 38 people, including suspected gang members, their associates, even hotel owners where the alleged prostitution was taking place. Suspects were indicted on multiple charges including racketeering and sex trafficking. As for "Jessica', the turning point came after she witnessed another prostitute, who was her friend, being beaten by their pimp. She says she watched horror as he sprayed mace in her mouth and forced her to swallow it. Then, she says, she knew she had to escape. "</s>JESSICA": Nowadays people seeing prostitutes, they call them names. They don't know what we're going through, if we were fed last night. If we're being raped.</s>GUTIERREZ (voice over): "Jessica" says she was abused as a child and never would have resorted to this life if she would have had a family who protected her. "</s>JESSICA": I don't have a dad. I have never had one. I think I waited like 18 years or 19 years for him to call me on one of my birthdays and never did. It's painful.</s>GUTIERREZ (voice over): "Jessica" says she worries about all the other vulnerable women and girls who get trapped in a life they can not escape. Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Oceanside, California.