Missing 12 year-old forced into prostitution

[Tiassa]

Source: SeattleTimes.com
Link: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004131956_girl18m.html
Title: "Man coerced 7th-grader into prostitution, cops say", by Jennifer Sullivan
Date: January 18, 2008

It is ... a grim story.

Police say a 12-year-old girl was coerced into prostitution by a man who befriended her and then ordered her to have sex with a stranger, even telling her what prices to charge for various acts.

The girl's frantic family found the seventh-grader in Seattle on Sunday after the man's fiancee learned what was happening and called the girl's sister, police said. The 23-year-old suspect was arrested Thursday and is being held for investigation of child rape and promoting prostitution ....

.... Seattle police say the girl is the youngest they've come across in a prostitution investigation in recent years. Though vice detectives say they bust prostitutes as young as 14, it's almost unheard of to find a 12-year-old girl coerced into streetwalking, they said.

"I'm disgusted. I'm overwhelmed with concern," police Sgt. Ryan Long said. "What I'm afraid of is what ones [girls] aren't we discovering?"

The suspect, who is not being named because he hasn't been charged, is described by police as a transient with "a significant criminal history." The man has been convicted of escape and two counts of possession of stolen property, and has been booked into the King County Jail on various charges seven times in the past 11 months.

The North Seattle girl told police that she met the 23-year-old man through a mutual friend on Jan. 9 and he invited her to hang out, Long said ....

.... When she failed to return home that night, her family filed a missing-persons report.

Police said the man had unprotected sex with her that night and several times over the next several days.

(Sullivan)

I'm not sure what goes here. Apparently, the suspect has done this sort of thing before. But I need to go take another shower, or maybe boil myself in order to get the sense of filth off of me. I can't think straight enough to express a coherent opinion.

 

[CutsieMarie89]

That was so sick. Of course it was suspicious to begin with, I mean why would a 23 year old want to hang out with a 12 year old anyway. He obviously enjoyed manipulating her. People can be such bastards. And the guys who wanted to have sex with her too. I've seen mature looking 12 year olds, but they defintely lack a certain maturity that would make them even be mistaken for a woman. (Of course people still think I'm like 13 so I don't know what that says about me:shrug:

 

[John99]

It is pretty disgusting. If the guy with "a significant criminal history" was in prison this would have never happened. There needs to be a limit to criminal activity whereas forfeiture of freedom is permanent. This goes beyond what we have now, maybe three strikes and your in...permanently.

 

[Asguard]

the 3 strikes leglisaltion is to blunt. There have been cases of people stealing a loaf of bread and getting life sentances because of it. Even if you made it sexual offences only that count rember that includes, sleeping with a prostitute (a REALY prostitue no comment on this case at all), having sex in public, and public nudity.

Although this case is deplorable and dispicable mantiory sentances are not the way to go either

 

[Tiassa]

Suspect charged

Source: SeattleTimes.com
Link: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004139220_apwarapecharge22.html
Title: "WA man charged with rape, prostituting of seventh-grader", by Associated Press
Date: January 22, 2008

And the detail ....

A Seattle man who police say coerced a preteen girl into prostitution has been charged with two counts of second-degree rape of a child and one count of promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor ....

.... If convicted of the charges, [Steven L.] Leonard could face 17 to 23 years in prison.

(AP)

Interesting: two counts of second degree. One of the things I've not been commenting about is that there's more to this story than we would think. I know it's a bit early to speculate, but there's a damaged or dysfunctional home involved in this somehow. I've been trying to figure out, in the first place, what kind of friend would introduce her to a freak like this, what kind of relationship the friend had with the guy, and how, exactly, the victim came to spend time with the perpetrator.

Second-degree rape of a child? Doesn't seem he drugged her or anything like that.

And what the hell is this "promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor"? Talk about blanching it out ....

At any rate, the proper term for those who endure and emerge from sexual abuse has long been "survivor". Let us hope the word is accurate, and let us hope this one carries on.

(An irrelevant note ... this particular AP wire feed is supposed to be embargoed around here: "The Seattle Times; not for online use in the Seattle area". What's the point?)

 

[Asguard]

tiassa what is the deference in the "degrees"

In australia there is nothing like that
for instance if you take the homocide laws here they are just:
Murder
Manslaughter
Caupable driving causing death
and industrial manslaughter (not sure if this one has been legislated yet)

no degrees

 

[Lone_Desperado]

Degrees basically means the seriousness of the crime. It also has a lot to do with the elements of the crime as well. For example, this describes what constitutes rape in the 2nd degree in Washington:

A person commits rape in the second degree when, under circumstances not
constituting rape in the first degree, he engages in sexual intercourse with another
person:
(i) By forcible compulsion;
(ii) When the victim is incapable of consent by reason of being physically
helpless or mentally incapacitated; or
(iii) When the victim is developmentally disabled and the perpetrator is a
person who is not married to the victim and who has supervisory authority over
the victim.
(iv) When the perpetrator is a health care provider, the victim is a client or
patient, and the sexual intercourse occurs during a treatment session,
consultation, interview, or examination.
(v) When the victim is a resident of a facility for mentally disordered or
6
chemically dependent persons and the perpetrator is a person who is not
married to the victim and has supervisory authority over the victim.
[A person commits rape in the second degree when, under circumstances not
constituting rape in the first degree, he engages in sexual intercourse with another
person:
(i) By forcible compulsion;
(ii) When the victim is incapable of consent by reason of being physically
helpless or mentally incapacitated; or
(iii) When the victim is developmentally disabled and the perpetrator is a
person who is not married to the victim and who has supervisory authority over
the victim.
(iv) When the perpetrator is a health care provider, the victim is a client or
patient, and the sexual intercourse occurs during a treatment session,
consultation, interview, or examination.
(v) When the victim is a resident of a facility for mentally disordered or
6
chemically dependent persons and the perpetrator is a person who is not
married to the victim and has supervisory authority over the victim.
[RCW sec. 9A.44.050]]

www.law.washington.edu/StreetLaw/supplement/Ch22

 

[Asguard]

see here the person would just be charged with rape and sexual assult and then when found guilty the judge would decide what sort of sentance is to be imposed

I am a little desterbed by they fact that they say "not married to" the person for 2 reasons

A) if my partner was mental ill i would be responcable for caring for her and we arnt married. Does that mean that i would be commiting rape if we had sex

and

B) The way that is writen suggests that someone who IS married to someone mentally ill CANT comit rape

 

[Lone_Desperado]

I honestly do not know how they would, decide on cases as such especially if you were first married, and then your partner would get into a car accident and suffer brain damage. If you look hard enough I would imagine there have been a few Washington Supreme Court cases on the part A of your question. Try http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/#statelaw. On part B, they can commit rape even if they are married, but for your question, I do not know mentally ill cases are difficult,because of the elements and the abilities of the mentally ill person.

 

[Asguard]

i wasnt refering to devoced couples i ment defacto relationships

And i do realise you can comit rape if you are in a relationship but it is harder to prove. My point was

A person commits rape in the second degree when, under circumstances not
constituting rape in the first degree, he engages in sexual intercourse with another
person:

(iii) When the victim is developmentally disabled and the perpetrator is a
person who is not married to the victim and who has supervisory authority over
the victim.

Oh and thanks for the link but i would have a snowballs chance in hell of finding a case such as that in a resonable timeframe unless i already KNEW the case

 

[Tiassa]

(Insert title here)

tiassa what is the deference in the "degrees"

To be a little more specific than L/D's note, I pulled up the "Rape of a Child" statutes, and I am mistaken. The difference appears to be dependent on age, and not, as I had erroneously presumed, conduct.

RCW 9A.44.073
Rape of a child in the first degree.

(1) A person is guilty of rape of a child in the first degree when the person has sexual intercourse with another who is less than twelve years old and not married to the perpetrator and the perpetrator is at least twenty-four months older than the victim.

(2) Rape of a child in the first degree is a class A felony.​

[1988 c 145 § 2.]

• • •​

RCW 9A.44.076
Rape of a child in the second degree.

(1) A person is guilty of rape of a child in the second degree when the person has sexual intercourse with another who is at least twelve years old but less than fourteen years old and not married to the perpetrator and the perpetrator is at least thirty-six months older than the victim.

(2) Rape of a child in the second degree is a class A felony.​

[1990 c 3 § 903; 1988 c 145 § 3.]