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Lauren, 18, with her five-month-old son at their home in Las Vegas on Wednesday, March 14, 2012.
By J. Patrick Coolican (contact) 
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 | 2:01 a.m.
J. Patrick Coolican
Sun archives
- Part I: A journey from good student to underage prostitute (April 2, 2012)
- Life after prostitution: Bill would erase convictions in some cases (March 7, 2011)
In April 2011, Lauren was 17 and again in lockup. She had been charmed by a man she thought was her boyfriend but who turned out to be a violent pimp. He was the father of their unborn child.
“He had me so far gone,” she reflected.
She had been lying for months to her mom, sister and court supervisors, who all suspected the origins of her problems.
“I wanted to tell the truth, but I didn’t want to hurt him,” she said. “I knew if I told the truth, we would be finished.”
This time, after repeated arrests and abuse, something inside her told her this was it. She was finished.
“I told them the truth,” she said.
Her boyfriend, who essentially enslaved her, was convicted of “pandering,” which is the legal term for pimping.
Lauren’s story offers a window into the horrifying world of human trafficking. The Las Vegas Valley has one of the worst human trafficking problems in the nation, with three times the number of juvenile arrests as New York City, despite the fact that we have only one-fourth the population. The wink and nod attitude toward prostitution here gives the wrong impression to tourists and conventioneers that it’s legal, which in turn creates a significant market for traffickers.
Shared Hope International, a group dedicated to eradicating human trafficking and that grades states on the efficacy of their trafficking laws, gives us an “F.” The Polaris Project, which has the same mission, gives us a slightly better grade.
This being Nevada, there aren’t enough resources to help children escape.
A small community of activists, police officers, social workers and others are fighting the good fight, however, and without them, Lauren might still be enslaved.
Youth Advocate Programs, Inc., a national nonprofit group that seeks to keep children out of jail, worked closely with Lauren to help her free herself.
Her youth advocate at the time, Shawnette Roque, spent 7 1/2 hours with Lauren every week. Lauren also attended group sessions and saw a therapist.
The question we all have is why a young woman, who is obviously bright and responsible, would fall victim to this predator.
Alexis Kennedy, a UNLV criminologist and expert in human trafficking, likens it to domestic violence, though to make matters worse, Lauren was so young she wasn’t able to confront her accuser.
“They get swept off their feet, and they don’t have the emotional tools to deal with it. She believed she was in a relationship. That is how they get them,” Kennedy said.
As Lauren said, “I felt like I did something wrong to him because I told the truth, like I should be apologizing to him.”
She slowly began to see the reality, however: that he was treating her, as she put, like “a human ATM machine.”
“Even with the struggle, she became grounded and knew what she wanted to do,” Roque said. “When she set her mind on something, good or bad, she could do it. Once we got her to focus on the good, things started to go well.”
Roque said the unplanned pregnancy seemed to snap Lauren to attention.
“She’s a big time reader. So I’d take her to the library, and she’s reading pregnancy books and telling me things I’d never heard of,” Roque said.
Her son was born last fall. He looks more and more like his father all the time, Lauren said.
Lauren passed her GED and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada, winning a scholarship from Youth Advocate Programs. She lives with her mom, who is working on starting a nonprofit to help families who are surviving the ordeal of human trafficking.
Lauren’s first goal is to earn an associates degree and become a paralegal, but someday she might like to be a lawyer, maybe prosecuting human traffickers.
I asked her how she summoned the courage to talk to me.
“I don’t feel any fear,” she said.
Lauren, first and foremost, from the bottom of my heart, I am so proud of you. Young lady, you have recovered from a situation that is typically unrecoverable. Your inner-strength and resolve are truly remarkable and highly worthy of top level respect and honor.
I just adore you!!! If every American had your character and personal traits, no obstacle in life would ever be overwhelming. I'll think of you everyday, just as I do for a select few for whom I grew a tremendous amount of respect over my lifetime.
During my earlier years in life, I, myself, overcame some pretty steep odds. One day, I came across this old inspirational story which I have, in my own way, always seriously related to. As I close this post, I'll share this with you.
Donkey in the Well
An Inspirational Story
"One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down.
A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.
Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off.
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well, is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step upward!"
Lauren, I'd say good luck to you, but you don't need luck. Continued success awaits you. It is the only path that you will ever truly know in your future.
As my gift to you Lauren, I've sang my rendition for years of one of Louie "Satchmo" Armstrong's most beautiful songs. It is appropriate that I dedicate this song to you. Sincerely, Bradley Chapline
http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/s...
Comment removed by moderator. Personal Attack
The story of one person's escape from the pit of despair, the lowest they can possibly go in life, other than "six foot under," is a testamony to the will and power of the human spirit.
Lauren's story brings light to the dark world which co-exists with our world. Thankfully, there are others in the world who will have the faith for you, when you are faced with dire circumstances. While they climb that ladder in life, there is one hand extended downward reaching to lift you up. Others leave a trail of breadcrumbs for you to discover and follow back into the land of the living and into the fold of family and friends.
In her way, Lauren is paying it forward by telling her story, thanks to J.Patrick Coolican, that just might inspire another to think better of themself. Lauren is standing and calling attention to the massive problem that exists not only in the world, but in the community, and in our neighborhoods.
If, as a civilized society we disapprove of it, we must find a way to deal with it. For too long, good people did nothing but dismiss the problem of the illegal sex trade and human trafficking confronting them. Denying it exists has not brought solutions nor made the world a better place. Commenter Bradley Chapline's story posted yesterday, and today further kindles the fires of hope and encouragement for us all. Never give up, on yourself or others!
Each one of us can do our part, show compassion, and be supportive towards breaking the chains of human suffering and bondage.
Stay strong, Lauren.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
"A small community of activists, police officers, social workers and others are fighting the good fight, however, and without them, Lauren might still be enslaved." And the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Without diminishing those who really did have good intentions (Shawnette Roque, certainly, and Youth Advocate Programs), we can immediately exclude the police and the politicians: They began by creating the market for child prostitution, second they created the job of pimp for Darrell; and, third, they treated this victim (over whom they shed their fake crocodile tears) like a criminal by institutionalizing her and giving her an arrest record.
You fail to face the truth in both articles that the "horrifying world of human trafficking" was and is intentionally created by the police and politicians: government prohibition of prostitution not only creates child prostitution, but also causes literally every other ill, which they cite. Our "leaders" and "servants" virtuously stoop to reward themselves for confusing on purpose the causes and effects of child prostitution and for failing, as just one example, to "observe" the relative absence of child prostitutes in the 13 counties of Nevada where prostitution is legal compared to the high numbers under their jurisdiction.
Please be the first to write about the real cause of child prostitution: the trough-feeders' dissembling, cowardice, enslavement to religious hypocrisy (especially their devotion to violence in general and their bias against women), and even trashing of the founding document of our society (who remembers "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness"?). That is bad enough. But they don't stop there: they actually have the gall to complain about the very ills they have brought to society. Worse, they claim to have the solutions to all the problems they created! Of course, their solutions are always the same: fewer rights, more violence, more punishment, more prejudice, more self-importance, and, of course, more money and power (for them!).
They criminalized this poor girl!! They put her in Juvenile Detention--not Child Haven! They gave her the ankle bracelet, after having created the perfect environment for her to get hurt. They gave a criminal record to a "victim", by their own reckoning! Hopefully not in this case, but statistics indicate that, thanks primarily to the criminalization process to which she was subjected, she is more likely to become a permanent welfare burden on the taxpayers than a lawyer. Isn't it inappropriate to include these people "as fighting the good fight" even in this case, which has such a "happy ending"?
Ed Uehling
it really does blow your mind to think that the aclu supports human trafficking...
well...
not directly...
but...
follow me here...
the aclu has vowed to strongly fight the regulation of the handbillers on the strip...
i have never called for the services solicited on those cards but i would guess that some lead to the sale of sexual services...
moreover...
i would guess that some of those young ladies selling their services are forced into that profession against their free will just like the subject of this story...
ergo...
the aclu supports human trafficking...
correct???
can anybody find a flaw in this line of reasoning???
hey bradley...
great story...
never heard it before...
and i ain't no spring chicken...
Why in the world aren't Pimps forced to register as Sex Offenders? It's the least we could do. The best would be to offer up Castration to them as an alternative. Simply put, pimps use sex as a weapon against women and young girls to lure and keep them as prostitutes, just as robber will use a gun to commit their crimes. Why are we not literally disarming this scum?
She is strong where they broke her.
The glory of humanity is the resilience, the courage, the inexorable underdog coming back with respect for the force that it's about to overcome. I smell the rain on the wind. Lauren is a force to remember and to emulate.
Knocked around, knocked up and knocked down is not enough. Expect a knockout punch...from the little lady named Lauren.
Thanks Patrick for the serious series that inspires us to see how we are.
"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure that it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry" Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
Inspiring story. I hope it will help others in the same situation gather the courage to change their lives.
@Birdiedreamin..."can anybody find a flaw in this line of reasoning???" Yes, but only if you read it.
You most glaring flaw is in the phrase..."i would guess..." You see if you have to make assumption then you argument is based on speculation and rumor. I could have just as easily wrote,
"I would guess some of these ladies use the money they earn to go to college,
They get degrees in medicine
and I would guess some develop cancer treatments
ergo the ACLU is curing cancer."
But without speculating at all I can show how you are supporting human trafficking...
You pay taxes....
Your taxes fund government programs....
Including out local police departments...
These department use those funds to employ officers
Those officers like Officer Peter Hervoyavich, Officer John Coggs and Michael Ray Stevens, use the money they are paid (from the money you gave them) to hire prostitutes.....
Ergo.. Birdiedreamin supports human trafficking
Much positive and others have started to post the high fives. I would like to point out that the victims who recover from these crimes need to train for and become employed in UNRELATED OCCUPATIONS. Sure it's fine to aspire to being an attorney to fight these crimes but let's deal with survival first. Get a job that will support you and your baby now and in even-tougher economic situations. From my perpetual-economic-realism perspective--we need self-sufficient people raising their children by themselves. There must be an end to the endless reliance on government programs. I agree that she needs help now but let's find a path that winds into independence.
Oh, and Lauren can be a fantastic mother with her realization of what is out there that her child must face.
When your "community" has as its role models, musicians, politicians and activists who write and support hit songs about gangbangs, rape and promote violence against woman by using words worse than what Rush used.... When your "community" promotes violence as the solution to everything, do you really expect anything good to come out of it??
It's nice to see someone get out of it... But she should have never been put in that position by a parent or community that turns a blind eye to the cause of it.
The pimp will be out in a few weeks and the neighborhood will welcome him back in to do it all over again....
Supply and demand.... do away with one (demand) and the rest is history (supply). Instead of blaming politics and police blame the JOHN who utilizes the service of a prostitute. Be MAN ENOUGH to take care of your sexual frustration yourself rather than stoop to procuring the services of a prostitute. No customers = no prostitutes = no pimps.....
I wish Lauren the best of luck and continued success. She is a survivor and I respect her for having the courage to tell her story.
While Lauren is certainly a victim, it seems the media is using her situation to continue it's misinformation campaign about human trafficking. The problem is that statistics include non-coercive, non-harmful cases of (often illegal) labor mobility lumped in with the coercive, harmful kind. The data suggests very few victims of trafficking are women sold into sex as opposed to men and boys forced into less titillating forms of labor.
I would also like to point out that "pimps" are not as common as law enforcement would have us believe. Most "pimps' are the (sometimes abusive) husbands or boyfriends of a prostitute who live off her earnings.
The general public seems to believe that intelligent, accomplished women who choose to do sex work are few and far between. The idea that sex work of any kind, even prostitution, is "demeaning and threatening" exists largely in the minds of the ignorant, not in the minds of the free adult women who make up the majority of the profession and always have.
azxk8fan, "do away with demand". This is the approach used in the Drug War which has thrown millions of non-violent marijuana users into our violence-prone prisions and we can see how that has gone. If we had to make a choice of doing away with people's right to choose, we would be better off to engage in our human inclination to believe in fanciful thinking. Then the churches who promote and benefit would have no customers and public policy could be based on human rationality and experience, rather than on religious dogma. That would be a good starting point for turning around our society and economy. Ed Uehling
Good point, Mark Anthony. When people consume the kinds of degrading recordings by certain "artists," they do become desensitized and stupidly follow the lyrics, morals, and behaviors of such artists.
Marketing edginess and sex as a tool to sell a product or service is nothing new and is right under our noses. Look at the billions of dollars that are raised thanks to that mentality. There is nothing good or wholesome about the messages being screamed out on the airwaves. However, our Constitution allows such freedom to do this.
Raising and exposing children to such a culture sets them up for rebellion, heartache, and failure. Parents have the right to control the home environment and dictate what their children may partake in.
Most educators are quite sensitive to the bombardment of negative messages towards their students and do intervene as the occassion warrants because by law these children are in their care, and they must attend to the welfare, care, safety, and security of each and every child they serve.
It is pretty difficult to "turn a blind eye" when a child is acting out because of the influence of negative music, videos, abandonment, or behaviors. The best an educator can do is make a suggestion to a parent. Again, the responsibility lands in the the parent's lap.
Welcome to America.
Blessings and Peace,
Star
-The Las Vegas Valley has one of the worst human trafficking problems in the nation, with three times the number of juvenile arrests as New York City, despite the fact that we have only one-fourth the population.
Thanks for ruining women's lives, Las Vegas.
It's a city premised on exploiting women.
And that is exactly what Vegas does best.
Thank you, Mr. Coolican for writing about these human atrocities. What can we do to change the Vegas culture of exploiting women? Did the "What happens here, stays here," campaign help perpetuate self-entitled exploitation of women?
Former Las Vegas Mayor Goodman's parading around intoxicated and making sexist remarks certainly added to the demoralization of women in Vegas. Does the current mayor--his wife--stand up for women's rights? Does she or did she ever stand up against his drunken, sexist tyrades?
Until we have a culture in Vegas that respects women and doesn't put up restaurant billboard ads of near-naked women and their nude backsides with the 'happy ending' tagline, I don't believe Vegas will EVER be a safe place for women.
hey bghs...
there are guesses...
and then there are you have got to be frickin kidding me guesses...
but...
to each his own partner...
I'm no expert on this topic, but I don't know if legalization is the solution. It's my understanding that human trafficking is a HUGE problem in Amsterdam. The violators simply adapt and find ways to work THAT system. The problem might be worse if we legalize. Once something is legal, a good portion of the population will ignore the industry all together, confusing legal and illegal activities.
@ HadleyH: Your observations are way off base, and you don't know what you're talking about regarding the very negative effects prostitution (whether coerced or voluntary) can have on a woman's personality and whole outlook on life. I should know; I was a prostitute for many years, and although I worked the streets voluntarily (not in Las Vegas) and initially found it to be very exciting, "the life" really took its toll on me; this lifestyle caused me to feel a lot of depression and feelings of worthlessness.
Speaking of truths, the bands continue to play to the cheerleader's cheer of America's colleges and university's pimping of college-athletes into million-dollar administration salaries as men assault one another in caged arenas profiteering upon pay-per-view while Vince Neil's bimbo boobies bounce to America's entertainment beat --
As Sonny Bono once said -- the beat goes on, the beat goes on -- for which human trafficking has no escape.
: {
Perhaps Mr. Uehling would be so kind as to explain how "government prohibition of prostitution" created "the market for child prostitution" and "created the job of Pimp for Darrell".
@ Birdiedreamin...you're right, yours was a "you'v got to be kidding me guess." I mean how can you even imagine that the 1ST Amendment supports human trafficking? I supports your right to spout such nonsense, but that is all.
Mine assertion however, did not rely on a guess, now did it?
FACT -- You PAY TAXES
FACT -- THOSE TAXES FUND POLICE
FACT -- POLICE USE THAT FUNDING TO PAY OFFICERS
FACT -- OFFICERS LIKE Officer Peter Hervoyavich, Officer John Coggs and Michael Ray Stevens USE THAT PAY TO SEE PROSTITUTES
ERGO THE MONEY YOU PAY IN TAXES FUNDS HUMAN TRAFFICKING.
Not a single guess, just facts. I just followed the money.
"I am pleased to note that no one has brought any criticism on my assertion I first made a few months ago. Las Vegas high schools lead the nation in teenage prostitution."
acejoker -- I'll bite. Consider your assertion criticised. You base it on what exactly?
"With morality the individual is led into being a function of the herd and to ascribing value to himself only as a function. . .Morality is the herd instinct in the individual." -- Frederich Nietzsche 1882 "The Gay Science"
@missmarie...You made quite an assumption when you state that I don't know what I am talking about. Why do you assume that everyone who has been involved in sex work feels they have been affected in a negative way? I should know. While I have since moved on, I spent several years here in Las Vegas working as an independent escort. It was a mostly positive experience for me. As an independent provider, I maintained my own website and set my own hours, which gave me more than enough free time to spend with my daughter and finish graduate school. With the large income I earned ("donations" for my time were not cheap) I was able to provide a comfortable lifestyle for myself and my daughter as well as keep her in private school. I do not feel that my positive experience as an escort is unusual. Las Vegas is full of smart and accomplished women who work as escorts.
We are being told that there's a widespread, growing, and out-of-control problem to fear in our country. "Trafficking." In cities across America, we are told over and over that "100,000 to 300,000" underage sex slaves have been stashed away from public view, with more joining them every day. Using official law enforcement data, underage prostitution arrests are closer to 800 per year for the entire country.It is not a rapidly growing problem but a small problem that stays about the same size because its underlying causes--drug addiction and teen homelessness-are not targeted with federal funds. The mass hysteria over "child sex trafficking" is reminiscent of the daycare scare of the 1980s, when we were told that child molesters had infiltrated daycare centers across the country.It was all a lie.
Legalisation and regulation would eliminate most of the black market, thereby eliminating most of the problem and most of the cost.
Before some fool brings it up---I meant legalisation and regulation of the sex trade, NOT human trafficking.
"...I meant legalisation and regulation of the sex trade, NOT human trafficking."
davestovall -- I have a better idea. Do what our founders set up our republic to do -- leave people alone!
"The struggle for liberty has been a struggle against Government. The essential scheme of our Constitution and Bill of Rights was to take Government off the backs of people." -- Columbia Broadcasting Sys., Inc. v. Democratic Nat'l Comm., 412 U.S. 94, 162 (1973), Justice Douglas concurring
"I do not feel that my positive experience as an escort is unusual. Las Vegas is full of smart and accomplished women who work as escorts."
HadleyH -- about time we heard from someone who actually knows something besides the headlines! Thanx so much for posting!
"We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force." - Ayn Rand (1905-1982)
Human Trafficking is a myth, a scary bedtime story to feed the fear mongers. It's the latest in a long line of such tall tales. Like Ritualized Satanic Sex Crimes, Day Care Child Molesters, Your children being plucked off the streets every day, Middle School Mall Prostitutes, Rainbow Parties.....the list goes on.... and you just fill your brains with pink slime because somebody told you it was hamburger.
"Yeah, sure the females who engage in prostitution are "accomplished" in ways other than sex."
acejoker -- your post is despicable.
"Beauty is all very well at first sight; but who ever looks at it when it has been in the house three days?" -- George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright, 1925 Nobel Prize winner
Leave people alone? Where did all the "runaways" in the 70's and 80's go to. Thousands were forced into prostitution and a few got away and came back to tell us about the pimps, motorcycle gangs/clubs, and "businessmen" who pandered them and continued to force them to perform. There are witnesses to the murder of "girls" who didn't follow orders. The "profile" of the pimp may have evolved a bit but this type of crime continues because THERE IS A MARKET FOR IT. If we take away the market we take away the crime. Arrest and prosecute Johns (of illegal prostitution.)
At what age does KillerB believe a boy or girl should be able to sell their body?
Inquiring minds want to know.
"Killer B, So is it your belief that prostitutes enter the profession after succeeding in other enterprises or professions?"
acejoker -- don't assume my beliefs. I'm taking HadleyH at face value as having far more credibility in this than you.
"Leave people alone? Where did all the "runaways" in the 70's and 80's go to. Thousands were forced into prostitution..."
Roslenda -- yes, leave people alone. "Runaways" are obviously running away from something, which is their privilege. You seem to think it's fine to invent crimes applying to everybody to make some do-gooders feel good about themselves. Since it appears you're on some crusade and make it up as you go along, I'm finished with you in this Discussion.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." -- C.S. Lewis
Could you please let the woman know about us in case we might be of any help to her? www.sexworkersanonymous.net
www.traffickingandprostitutionservices.o...
You can read about the founder at
http://www.hightechmadam.blogspot.com/20...
She moved here specifically to work with sex trafficking victims because she says that only in Nevada are there traffickers who are so much a part of the law enforcement structure here in Nevada. This means she can't get the assistance from the authorities here to help with victims the same as she does in other states.
Here is one example of what I mean - http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/IRS...
When a victim is thinking about testifying against a trafficker - she knows that someone like this man will be able to track her down and there's no hiding after the trial because someone who used to be an IRS agent will be able to find anyone in two minutes. This is why so many victims here can't go to the authorities for help as they can in other states - hence why Jody said she had to move here to make herself more available to the victims.
Here - Mayor Oscar Goodman threatened Bob Herbert of the NY Times with a baseball bat to the head if he ever set foot back in Vegas after he published an interview with Jody about the state of trafficking here in Nevada. http://www.americanmafia.com/inside_vega...
Things like Judge Voy's courtroom where he only hears teenage prostitution cases. Jody has offered to work with these girls at no charge to the court system with her connections to get as many of them as need it into a residential program that she has connections with in many states that would welcome these girls into their residential treatment programs for prostitutes - or to connect them up with recovering prostitutes through Sex Workers Anonymous - yet he continues to tell the media that these girls have "no where to turn to for help" so he can try and drum up his $2,000,000 to build a residential program with only 14 beds (whereas he sees more than 14 prostitutes per day in his courtroom so this will not help the girls - and to put these girls in jail without any criminal charges which violates their civil rights whenever he feels like it. I mean imagine running a drug court without allowing the addicts to get referrals to an Narcotics Anonymous meeting or even get a Basic Text - and you see the insanity of how these programs are treating victims in this town and why Jody felt she had to move here in order to be here fully for them.
So could you please give these women Jody's number to contact so she can assist them in the healing that often is major after having been forced into sex work.