FL - 4 charged with running foster child prostitution ring

[daisy7]

Police and prosecutors arrested four alleged pimps Monday morning as part of an ongoing investigation into a ring of human traffickers who preyed on abused and neglected children in foster care.

The men, police say, were part of an organized conspiracy to lure underage girls into prostitution. The four were charged with conspiracy, racketeering and unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Using a teenage foster child as a recruiter, police say, the four men plied underage girls with cash, affection and gifts. Ultimately, the girls became prostitutes who earned the ring about $100 for every man with whom they had sex. The girls, in turn, were paid $30 or $40 of that original $100.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/25/2867962/4-charged-with-running-foster.html#storylink=cpy

 

[nomoresorrow]

Color me confused...

The human trafficking investigation also involves a now-suspended child abuse investigator for the agency that oversees child welfare efforts in Florida. Jean LaCroix, a child protective investigator employed by the Department of Children & Families, was placed on paid administrative leave while police and prosecutors investigate allegations he repeatedly had sex with a teenaged foster child whose safety he was assigned to protect.

Sources have told The Miami Herald that LaCroix placed the girl at a group home for dependent children — and turn returned to the home repeatedly to pick the girl up for sexual favors. The girl, sources say, also was working for members of the ring who were arrested Monday.

LaCroix had spearheaded a 2006 child abuse investigation — prompted by a call from worried teachers and administrators — into the welfare of Nubia Barahona, a twin who was adopted from foster care and was killed in 2011, police say by her own adoptive parents, Carmen and Jorge Barahona. LaCroix was named in a lawsuit alleging DCF failed repeatedly to protect Nubia, and her brother, Victor, whom police say also endured years of torment.

LaCroix has not been charged with any crimes.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/25/2867962/4-charged-with-running-foster.html#storylink=cpy


Why hasn't this guy (DCF worker) been charged?!

 

[Starfish]

Disgusting....makes my skin crawl just to look at these creeps! Poor kids, as if life hadn't delt them enough hard blows, I pray they can get the help they need to overcome this. How will they ever be able to trust again? Know the real meaning of sex with someone you love? Just so sad, so many sickos in the world after children...it's beyond scarey!

 

[Tugela]

Why hasn't this guy (DCF worker) been charged?!

Probably because an allegation was made. They generally don't arrest simply on an allegation, they require evidence, so they do an investigation. I imagine that when they shut down the ring, the girl pointed at this guy. She might have had other reasons for claiming that though, maybe she just didn't like him because of his job or perhaps because he placed her in the home. They would need to find corroboration for her claims.

 

[daisy7]

The teenage foster kids called their rendezvous with men who paid for their affections “dates.” Sometimes they had several scheduled each day.

Their alleged handler, whom they called “E-Nasty,” or just “E,” would text the girls on the cell phones he provided them. “You’re gonna have some dates today,” he would say, a source told The Miami Herald.

On days where the girls had a hectic schedule, they’d be driven to school in the morning, but fail to enter. Instead, the teens would call or text their pimps to pick them up. “It was a perfect cover,” the source said. “People thought they were going to school.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/26/2869538/foster-kids-would-leave-for-school.html#storylink=cpy

 

[CarolinaMoon]

When you think things can't get worse, they do. There are too many sick and evil people out there who take advantage of the most needy children.

FYI, I saw on TV (not remembering the program), that, in a study in NYC, runaway girls who arrived at the Port Authority Bus Terminal lasted about 20-40 minutes before being scooped up by pimps. Police on duty there now try to get to these girls before the pimps do.

 

[Filly]

This makes my heart bleed.

The "recruiter" eventually had sex with this guy for free because he was nice to her. Look at the charges this creep had.




http://www.bustedmugshots.com/florida/homestead/david-zarifi/36083191

What's nice? Not getting your head beat in? These poor kids are already just tossed to the wind. No da*n decent adult to care for them and then they are brought into this? It's going to take soooooooooooo much help for them to understand they can live life without resorting to prostitution.

At their young ages a "date" should mean just that. It should mean a movie and pizza with a mate your own age. Instead their "dating" like the rest of the women out in this world prostituting themselves.

Tonight I am sending up prayers for the poor suffering men, women and young kids that are out there ready to get in the next car that stops and pays $20.00 for a soul.lease:lease:lease:

 

[katydid23]

I would like to lock them all up and throw away the key. There is no reason for any of these creeps to see the light of day again, imo. Especially those that were working as child abuse investigators and social workers. Too bad pimps aren't eligible for the DP, in this case, :furious:

 

[Wise Old Owl]

Well the DCF worker HAS been charged and caught!

DCF investigator on run from child-sex charges arrested

A child-welfare investigator charged with having sex with a foster child was arrested — after he had fled to the Dominican Republic to escape prosecution.
By Carol Marbin Miller
cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com
On the run for much of a week after he was linked to a high-profile investigation into the sexual trafficking of foster children, a state child-abuse investigator was arrested Saturday while he was trying to flee to the Dominican Republic.

**more at link**

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/30/2876661/dcf-investigator-on-run-from-child.html#storylink=cpy


<Modsnip>


JMHO

 

[daisy7]

Girl at another Florida foster home also lured into prostitution

A recent bust of men recruiting foster-care girls in Homestead for prostitution wasn&#8217;t the first time such accusations came up in Florida.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/30/2877722/girl-at-another-florida-foster.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Caligram]

I can't even read through all of the articles linked upthread. This is beyond human behavior. Pimps preying on troubled vulnerable girls - just like a cheetah stalks it's dinner, spotting the weakest animal in a herd.
Too bad there isn't a sex-organ-for-sex-organ punishment for these sob's, just like an arm-for-an-arm justification. But we are too civilized to enact painful punishment befitting the crime - it's iconsidered nhumane.
These poor girls most likely will be back out on the streets eventually - it's all they know, and their self-respect was ripped from them years ago. They were devalued and abused, used, sex objects for hire. I don't imagine there is any adequate counselling which would erase their experiences and turn them into just average giggly teenage girls.

IMHO

 

[Reader]

DCF Examining Group Homes After Sex Trafficking

http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/DCF_Examening_Group_Homes_After_Sex_Trafficking_161554215.html

Florida child welfare officials are on the defensive this week after revelations that children in taxpayer-financed group homes are falling prey to sex traffickers.

Miami-Dade police last week arrested four alleged pimps in an ongoing investigation of the exploitation of abused and neglected children in foster care, the Miami Herald reported last week. On Sunday, the Herald broke news of a similar set-up in Jacksonville.
-----

"There is not a department employee specifically involved in these children's lives," Follick said. "We contract the care of foster children in the state to community groups who then often subcontract that work out too, whether it be group homes or case management organizations that work with these children."

Robin Hassler Thompson, an expert in human trafficking at Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, said it's disturbing that such crimes could happen right under the noses of so many caregivers.
------

Follick said as soon as DCF heard reports of trafficking in the group homes, the agency took action.

"Obviously we are ultimately responsible," he said. "But one of the things that I think we have learned from this lesson is the importance of communication in training all the way down, not just at the department but through the people that we pay to take care of these children."

Hassler Thompson credited DCF for having implemented training five or six years ago, under then-Secretary George Sheldon.
------

"What is the level of accountability for the people who are getting state money and who are providing this kind of supervision?" asked Hassler Thompson. "There has to be some level of accountability because it is so prevalent, we can't ignore it."

Follick says DCF is reviewing all aspects of its group homes and recruiting more foster parents to reduce the need for them.

"The arrest last week highlighted an awful problem, but what would make it worse is if we didn't do anything. And we're not going to let that happen. We're going to examine this, we're not going to shy away from it, and we're going to do everything we can to help every child in group care."

More at link....

 

[Trident]

DCF Examining Group Homes After Sex Trafficking

http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/DCF_Examening_Group_Homes_After_Sex_Trafficking_161554215.html

Florida child welfare officials are on the defensive this week after revelations that children in taxpayer-financed group homes are falling prey to sex traffickers.

Miami-Dade police last week arrested four alleged pimps in an ongoing investigation of the exploitation of abused and neglected children in foster care, the Miami Herald reported last week. On Sunday, the Herald broke news of a similar set-up in Jacksonville.
-----

"There is not a department employee specifically involved in these children's lives," Follick said. "We contract the care of foster children in the state to community groups who then often subcontract that work out too, whether it be group homes or case management organizations that work with these children."

Robin Hassler Thompson, an expert in human trafficking at Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights, said it's disturbing that such crimes could happen right under the noses of so many caregivers.
------

Follick said as soon as DCF heard reports of trafficking in the group homes, the agency took action.

"Obviously we are ultimately responsible," he said. "But one of the things that I think we have learned from this lesson is the importance of communication in training all the way down, not just at the department but through the people that we pay to take care of these children."

Hassler Thompson credited DCF for having implemented training five or six years ago, under then-Secretary George Sheldon.
------

"What is the level of accountability for the people who are getting state money and who are providing this kind of supervision?" asked Hassler Thompson. "There has to be some level of accountability because it is so prevalent, we can't ignore it."

Follick says DCF is reviewing all aspects of its group homes and recruiting more foster parents to reduce the need for them.

"The arrest last week highlighted an awful problem, but what would make it worse is if we didn't do anything. And we're not going to let that happen. We're going to examine this, we're not going to shy away from it, and we're going to do everything we can to help every child in group care."

More at link....

BBM, - always learning are they? How long has child abuse been going on in their foster care system? How many more children will have to be victimized before they "learn" and get it right?

This is sick and disgusting, and I believe heads should roll - God alone knows how deep this sickness of child abuse really goes within the "system".

My opinion only

 

[Reader]

BBM, - always learning are they? How long has child abuse been going on in their foster care system? How many more children will have to be victimized before they "learn" and get it right?

This is sick and disgusting, and I believe heads should roll - God alone knows how deep this sickness of child abuse really goes within the "system".

My opinion only

After working with DCF for a lot of years I'll have to say a word for them....these are NOT foster homes but contractors and sub-contractors that were required by the state legislature to supposedly save MONEY and are usually owned by some of their business buddies. As the article says DCF now realizes they need to find and train more real foster homes to care for these children instead of warehousing them like this. The heads that should roll are the ones who passed the laws....NO real social workers or foster homes were involved in setting these warehouses up.

 

[Rayemonde]

Lacroix was charged with engaging in sex with a foster child. He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.

Http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article2120548.html#storylink=cpy

 

[bluesneakers]

One year?!

 

[pappa rob]

What a travesty...

 

[EllieBee]

I guess that shows how children and their rights are valued in FL. And many other places.

Makes me sick and sad.

 

[tlcya]

a year and a day. Wow. No words I can say here.

 

[mickey2942]

This does not surprise me at all. Foster care is often almost as bad as the homes the kids left.