KELLY MCMANUS, North Shore Outlook, July 2, 2009
North Vancouver RCMP say a local “ring of pimps and drug traffickers” has been seducing teen girls into prostitution and advertising on Craigslist. Cpl. Marlene Morton said men in their early 20s or late teens are preying on their former high school classmates in a North Van neighbourhood, some under 18 years old.
“They know each other,” said Morton of the girls and the alleged pimps. “They were maybe in the same school but not in the same grade.”
The RCMP received a tip from staff at a North Vancouver high school and have been investigating since last November, Morton said. School district representative Victoria Miles said the investigation is an RCMP file, so the district is not free to comment on specifics, but she did point out the alleged recruitment of teens into prostitution is “not happening on school grounds or during school time.”
Morton said the North Vancouver pimps often recruit the girls through gifts. “Often these girls think its a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. They’re given clothing, drugs, cellphones, etcetera and then they’re told ‘You’re actually not my girlfriend and you need to work off your debt.’” Morton said the relationships spiral into exploitation and abuse. “The pimps are using violence or the threat of violence to control the girls,” she wrote earlier in a notice. So far RCMP investigators allege 11 young female sex workers and four pimps.
Some underage sex workers may be circumventing the relationships with pimps and advertising their services on Craigslist, Morton also said. She cited one June 26 posting that listed “uncovered” sexual services, meaning sex acts without a condom, offered for $150. She said investigators knew the girl in the ad to be under 18.
One June 26 posting promises a “Quick-e Car date” in North Vancouver at the Parkgate Community Centre. A June 29 search of Craigslist revealed over a dozen postings offering the sexual services of young women in North and West Vancouver claiming to be between 19 and 24, many of whom promised they looked “barely legal” and offered “G.F.E.” (girlfriend experience).
Some listings posted services ranging from $45 per sex act or $250 per hour.
Social worker says disclosure rate may not reflect rise in teen prostitutes
Morton did not reveal the number of North Vancouver teens who have identified as sex workers and reached out for help, but in another media report RCMP has said support groups are logging more cases of teen sex workers on the North Shore.
Morton said the RCMP’s Youth Intervention and Sex Crime Investigations units are working with ONYX, a Vancouver support network for sexually exploited youth.
However a social worker partnered with ONYX warned that just because more teens are coming forward with “disclosures,” doesn’t mean that the rate of incidences is on the rise. Diane Sowden, director at Children of the Street Society, a partner organization with ONYX, said her group speaks to teens in Lower Mainland classrooms, sharing information about how pimps recruit young people and how young sex workers can quickly find themselves wrapped up in a snarl of crime and addictions.
Sowden said more disclosures by local teen prostitutes can “mean that more kids are asking for services and help which is a positive.” “Now, through more education, they are identifying . . . (saying) maybe I am in over my head . . . That doesn’t mean more kids are being exploited,” she said.
ONYX could not comment on the issue, said a social worker from that organization.
Sowden said that her group has visited high schools on the North Shore to make presentations about avoiding prostitution. Outreach workers visited North Van’s Argyle secondary “on a regular basis and have for years.”
West Van assistant superintendent Chris Kennedy says the troupe has visited the West Van school district, but, “It (teen prostitution) hasn’t been raised by counsellors or administrators in the schools. It hasn’t been a concern.”
In visits to Sentinel secondary in 2008 and 2009, a troupe of young outreach workers from Children of the Street dramatized the downward spiral of gift-giving and exploitation of teens by pimps. West Van school board chair Mary Ann Booth said the presentation received positive feedback from students and teachers because, “It relates to kids . . . Any time you can get the voice of youth speaking out to youth the message is so much more underscored and accepted.”
Responding to the RCMP claims that young local sex workers are using Craigslist, Sowden said her group now focuses more on education about internet recruiting. She said pimps often recruit young people through social networking sites. “We now know that young people are using technology so the predators and the pimps are also using technology,” she said. “Young people can also be selling themselves without a pimp involved when it comes to online (exchanges) … but the fact is the customers they are meeting with are still the same customers.”
Cpl. Marlene Morton said anyone with leads about allegedly burgeoning teen prostitution networks or any young people who need help can contact Const. Cam Stewart or Const. Michelle Steele at 604-985-1311.
kmcmanus@northshoreoutlook.com
