Mother Sold 14-Year Old For Car & Prostituted 11-Year Old & She Is Now Pregnant

Mom accused of selling sex with daughter, trading another for car
The girls, 12 and 14, are in state custody. The younger child is pregnant.


The Associated Press

April 13, 2005, 9:25 AM EDT

OKEECHOBEE -- A mother is under arrest, accused of selling a 12-year-old daughter into prostitution and trading a 14-year-old daughter for a car.

The 39-year-old woman, whose name is not being released to protect the girls´ identities, is charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse and two counts of sexual performance by a child. She was being held Tuesday in the Okeechobee County Jail with bail set at $400,000.

Both girls have been turned over to the Department of Children & Families, the Okeechobee News reported for today´s editions.

The youngest girl and her mother were living out of their car, and the prostitution was for food and an occasional shower at the men´s homes, according to a report by Okeechobee County Sheriff´s Office Detective K.J. Ammons.

The youngest daughter is three months pregnant, the report said, and the girl was 11 when her mother first forced her to have sex with a man. She charged $20 for the sex.

The older daughter refused to be used as a prostitute and was sold for a car, deputies contend.

"She was sold to a man for a Mercury Cougar," Ammons said. "But he never gave the mother the vehicle."

Ammons said the car has an estimated value of $500 to $1,000. That 23-year-old man has since been arrested. He was charged with sexual performance by a child and was booked into the county jail with bail set at $100,000.

The youngest girl told detectives that her mother pulled both girls out of school for fear they would tell someone.

"She said she was a good student and made A´s and B´s, and all she wants to do is go back to school," Ammons said.

Ammons said DCF will get the girls into a new school.

Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press

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