Two teenagers testifying in a child sex-trafficking trial are like hundreds of child prostitutes working the Houston streets in a struggle for survival, an expert told the Houston Chronicle. The children willingly become prostitutes because they are fending for themselves on the streets, are abandoned by adults, and have no other way to feed themselves, said Sam Quattrochi, superintendent of the Letot Center in Dallas. He testified in the trial of George “Unique” Anderson III, 28, of Houston on two counts of sex trafficking of children. A 16-year-old girl from West Palm Beach, Fl., and a 15-year-old girl from Beaumont, Tx., testified that Anderson was their pimp when they were arrested for prostitution last year.
Child prostitutes in Dallas are taken for treatment to the Letot Center, where 73 percent of the children have not been arrested or returned to prostitution a year after treatment, Quattrochi said. Houston has no such treatment center, although Quattrochi said he has discussed the creation of one with local officials. Without a treatment center, children arrested in Houston go through the juvenile criminal system and usually end up back on the streets, he said. He estimated that 400 to 600 children work as prostitutes on any given night on Houston streets.
Link: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4202815.html