Sting Leads Police To Alleged Gang Member, 14-Year-Old Girl


POSTED: 11:31 am CST January 11, 2007
UPDATED: 7:20 pm CST January 11, 2007



CHICAGO -- Three people were charged Thursday after police uncovered what they're calling a hard-core prostitution ring allegedly run by users of the popular Web site Craigslist.com.


It's not uncommon for people to sell sex on the Internet. What lands them in jail is when they meet an undercover officer and agree to sell sex for money.


This time, though, adults who run the ads allegedly used juveniles to perform the sex acts.

They don't even know each other, but two Cook County women are each accused of running Internet prostitution businesses and using teen girls to perform the sex acts.

"The girls were 14, 15, 16 years old," said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. "And one of them was a DCF escort. On so many levels, it's shocking ... but not isolated."

The victims were selling the sex, but police said it was 25-year-old Tamara Cotton and 19-year-old Christina Holt who were posting the ads on Craigslist.com, a site for buying and selling legitimate goods. And apparently, it was a very lucrative business for the women.

"One girl is 14, and she's doing five or six clients a day. At $300, that's going to add up," said Sgt. Mike Anton with the Child Exploitation Unit.

Cotton allegedly drove a juvenile to a location near North Avenue and Harlem, where she waited outside while she sent the teen in to have sex. Cotton is now facing child endangerment and prostitution-related charges. Holt is facing similar charges, and what's more disturbing is what police said they found inside her home.

Police said Holt's boyfriend, Montrell Knight, is allegedly a member of a Chicago street gang, and police said he was storing their drugs and weapons at Holt's home. Police said they found an AK-47-type assault rifle and 3,000 rounds of ammunition. He is facing a host of felony charges now.

This is the first time sheriff's police have uncovered a juvenile prostitution service on the Internet. Unfortunately, they fear it won't be the last. Dart said it a disturbing trend and warned parents to be diligent when young kids are online, saying only a few keystrokes from the main page of Craigslist allows anyone to access the adult content section.

they should totally do away with crap like that on craigslist....it's not a dating site, etc.

funkpill said:

An AK hidden in someone's house is more disturbing than using kids for sex?

That's small potatoes compared to this guy...

http://edition.cnn.com/20...index.html

Suave Russian billionaire arrested

GRENOBLE, France (AP) -- Mikhail Prokhorov, one of Russia's wealthiest men who made his billions in nickel and gold, was taken into custody by French police in a crackdown on a suspected prostitution ring at a swank Alpine ski resort, officials said Thursday.

The athletic, 6-foot-7 Prokhorov is often described as Russia's most eligible bachelor. Even among Russia's big-spending business elite, he has a reputation for organizing lavish parties.

Investigators suspect Russian call girls were brought to the resort in Courchevel, a favored playground of Russia's rich, to work during the winter holidays, prosecutor Xavier Richaud said. Clients allegedly paid the women with gifts from luxury boutiques.

A total of 26 people were taken in for questioning Tuesday, Richaud said. As of Thursday, 15 -- including Prokhorov -- were still being held in the southeast city of Lyon, officials close to the investigation said. They spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

Among those detained, the officials said, was an Austrian who runs a travel agency and is suspected of helping the Russian women find their way to two luxury hotels at the ski resort.

Some of the 15 could be placed under investigation -- a step short of being charged -- as early as Friday. They would face counts of "aggravated procuring in an organized band" and "criminal association," the officials said.

Martine Monteil, director of France's judicial police, said earlier that a Russian tycoon was in custody for allegedly offering young women to his guests. She did not identify Prokhorov by name.

Prokhorov, the 41-year-old chief executive of a Russian mining giant, is ranked No. 89 on Forbes magazine's 2006 list of the world's richest people. He is worth $6.4 billion, according to Forbes, largely thanks to his holding in OAO Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel producer, and Polyus Gold, Russia's biggest gold miner.

Keen basketball player
A keen basketball player, Prokhorov has used his wealth to acquire Euroleague basketball champions CSKA. Skiing, jet skiing and kickboxing are among his favorite sports. He divides his time between Norilsk, Moscow, Saint Tropez on the French Riviera, and Courchevel, where he owns a chalet.

The arrests occurred in several hotels at fashionable Courchevel, which has its own airstrip that can accommodate private jets. Russian tycoons flock to the resort over the New Year and Orthodox Christmas holidays.

Investigators also seized $65,000 at two four-star hotels in Courchevel, an official working on the probe said. The official was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity. No drugs or weapons were found.

Those questioned include seven Russian women about 20 years old, as well as people suspected of helping bring the women to France, the official said. It was unclear whether the women were among those still in custody.

Police suspect the women involved worked only occasionally as prostitutes and that their pay likely came mainly in the form of expensive presents from luxury boutiques in the ski station, the investigating official said.

That practice is also used by some prostitutes in the chic beach resorts of the French Riviera. The official said the giving of gifts could complicate efforts to prove the women were prostitutes and not simply friends.

Police began the investigation last year after noticing suspicious trips by young Russian women heading through Geneva to the French Alps, with tickets booked through Austrian travel agencies, the official said. Investigators were on the lookout for two waves of prostitutes arriving in Courchevel during the 2006-07 holiday season.

Sergei Chernitsyn, head of the press department with Norilsk Nickel, said the company had received no information about Prokhorov's arrest. He called the allegations "absurd."

"We expect him back at work on Monday," Chernitsyn said. The spokesman added that the company was "operating to plan" and would not be affected by Prokhorov's detention.

Based on Russia's Arctic edge in the Taimyr Peninsula, Norilsk Nickel also has the world's biggest reserves of palladium, and its mines were at one point worked by inmates of Josef Stalin's gulag.


But at least he's suave though.

sadly, the root of the problem are the scumbags that want this stuff. they've always been around and always will be. I'm not relieving the providers of their responsibility at all, just saying that if there wasn't a demand, there woulnt be a supply.



the world is a jacked up place yo

Shoot, there's an entire section on Craigslist devoted to prostitution, but they give it the name "erotic services". They should get rid of all of it. All you have to do is click a button that says you are 18. That doesn't exactly keep younger teens from using it.

jerseykrs said:

funkpill said:

See,
this is the kinda shit that gives us gang-bangers a bad name.

Illustrator said:

Why doesn't anyone ever talk about the food drives and massage clinics you guys do? It's a conspiracy!

UCantHavaDaMango said:

yep...

Those poor young girls....why can't some parents do their job!

wait a minute...lets not blame craig or his list for underrage prostitution...this kinda stuff goes on everywhere...

just last year in my hometown of Stockton an underage prostitution ring was busted in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the city...

this stuff happens...and craigslist actually makes it easier to catch the idiots. think about it.