Woman accused of selling daughters for sex is freed

Bill Gang

Wednesday, Nov. 18, 1998 | 11:20 a.m.

An Oklahoma woman who spent the last year in jail awaiting trial on charges that she brought her two daughters to Las Vegas and forced them into prostitution in 1994 has walked out of jail a free woman.

Connie Marie Behymer pleaded guilty Tuesday to two gross misdemeanor counts of child neglect and was sentenced by District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski to the time she already has served in jail.

The guilty pleas, however, were under a legal provision that does not require her to admit actual responsibility, but only to avoid the possibility of harsher penalties if convicted at a trial.

The felony charges of sexual assault of a minor, pandering and child abuse with substantial physical or mental harm were dismissed as part of the plea bargain.

It had been alleged in those charges that Behymer ordered her 6- and 9-year-old daughters to engage in sexual acts with between 20 and 50 men.

The girls, now 11 and 14, testified reluctantly and only in general terms at a preliminary hearing that their mother charged $25 for the sex and told them she spent the money in slot machines.

They also recalled having to sleep in shelters or on the streets, because they lacked money for a home. That was the basis for the child neglect charges involved in the plea bargain.

Behymer, 37, who also was accused of selling the girls for sex in Southern California, originally had faced charges in federal court, but prosecution eventually was left to Clark County authorities. In the meantime, she had moved to Oklahoma City, and the case languished until she was returned last year.

The original FBI report alleged that Behymer would ask men passing by if they wanted her daughters.

"During both day and night ... Behymer would take one of her daughters with her and walk the streets begging for money," the federal complaint stated.

After finding men interested in having sex with a girl, Behymer would say "$50, no refunds, no money back," the complaint alleged.