Chapter 9 A High School Prostitution Ring
(Excerpt from the beginning of the chapter)
“I was recruited by a girl at school who pretended to be my friend. She always had money. She was always going to parties and she was always all bouncy and happy,” explains Lauren, 15.
Lauren was part of the largest teen prostitution ring in Edmonton’s history, involving over 50 school girls, between the ages of 12 and 16.
“She was coming home with hundreds of dollars every night, new clothes, new piercings, so I called the police,” Angie, Lauren’s mother, explains. Detective Randy Wickins of the Edmonton Vice Unit followed Lauren to 3 different houses over a 2-week period where she met men for sex. Her cell phone records showed 2 numbers of known pimps.
Three weeks later, Wickins and a team of investigators arrested 5 men, ranging in age from 34 to 50, for having sex with persons less than 18 years of age.26 I interviewed 3 of the girls who had pressed charges, 2 weeks after the case closed.
Lauren now lives with her aunt in a new, suburban development just outside of the city of Edmonton. There is a Church of Scientology nearby and the high school she attends is within walking distance. Lauren’s aunt, who has scraggly blond hair and red, wind-burnt cheeks, asks me to interview Lauren in the computer room where there is also a large aquarium full of colorful fish, a dusty treadmill and stacks of women’s magazines.
Lauren’s hair hangs in 2 messy braids held with mismatched clips. She is dressed in sweats and one of her boyfriend’s checkered shirts. Her voice is soft and babyish and she giggles a lot.
Lauren, 15
When I first started grade 8, I tried to wear heels because all the other girls were wearing them, but I’m already tall, so it just made me feel like a giant. I discovered Fubu sneakers, which you can dance in. Looks are not that important to me, but people say I’m pretty. I have bushy eyebrows and long hair, which I mostly wear in a ponytail. I don’t wear a lot of makeup and I dress in T-shirts and jeans. Sometimes, I wear eye shadow, but that’s it.
“I was recruited by a girl at school who pretended to be my friend. She always had money. She was always going to parties and she was always all bouncy and happy,” explains Lauren, 15.
Lauren was part of the largest teen prostitution ring in Edmonton’s history, involving over 50 school girls, between the ages of 12 and 16.
“She was coming home with hundreds of dollars every night, new clothes, new piercings, so I called the police,” Angie, Lauren’s mother, explains. Detective Randy Wickins of the Edmonton Vice Unit followed Lauren to 3 different houses over a 2-week period where she met men for sex. Her cell phone records showed 2 numbers of known pimps.
Three weeks later, Wickins and a team of investigators arrested 5 men, ranging in age from 34 to 50, for having sex with persons less than 18 years of age.26 I interviewed 3 of the girls who had pressed charges, 2 weeks after the case closed.
Lauren now lives with her aunt in a new, suburban development just outside of the city of Edmonton. There is a Church of Scientology nearby and the high school she attends is within walking distance. Lauren’s aunt, who has scraggly blond hair and red, wind-burnt cheeks, asks me to interview Lauren in the computer room where there is also a large aquarium full of colorful fish, a dusty treadmill and stacks of women’s magazines.
Lauren’s hair hangs in 2 messy braids held with mismatched clips. She is dressed in sweats and one of her boyfriend’s checkered shirts. Her voice is soft and babyish and she giggles a lot.
Lauren, 15
When I first started grade 8, I tried to wear heels because all the other girls were wearing them, but I’m already tall, so it just made me feel like a giant. I discovered Fubu sneakers, which you can dance in. Looks are not that important to me, but people say I’m pretty. I have bushy eyebrows and long hair, which I mostly wear in a ponytail. I don’t wear a lot of makeup and I dress in T-shirts and jeans. Sometimes, I wear eye shadow, but that’s it.