Silke Jasso
Houstonians are always looking for a “good time,” but paying for an unforgettable experience with a lady of the night may cost you more than just cash, especially if there are minors involved.
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Over a period of three weeks that came to a head on Super Bowl Sunday, law enforcement from 30 agencies nationwide stepped up their efforts to crack down on prostitution as part of the National Johns Suppression Initiative – a campaign to suppress “johns,” aka buyers, from purchasing sex and human trafficking.
Houston Police had particular success with the NJSI efforts during Super Bowl weekend, making a reported 249 arrests for prostitution in the 10 days leading up to the Falcons’ loss to the Patriots. Twenty-one of these arrests were directly related to activities surrounding the big game, which authorities nationwide have described as “a prominent haven for sex trafficking.”
Among those arrested included Randy Hendricks, the former sports agent for MLB giant and famed Houston Astro Roger Clemens, who paid $80 to an undercover female deputy in a failed attempt to purchase sex in a Houston-area Hilton.
But Hendricks isn’t the only one contributing to the sex workers’ economy, one many argue deserves civil rights protections or at least no penalties for the prostituted women. Just this week, Pearland resident Dihlon Lee Davis was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges for “pimping six Alvin ISD high school students.”
Alvin ISD released a statement on the situation:
“Last April, Alvin ISD administrators and police officers were investigating an altercation that occurred between multiple students at Manvel High School. The conflict started after an accusation was made claiming that one of the students was involved in illicit activity, unrelated to the campus. Alvin ISD Police Officers broadened the scope of their investigation to determine the validity of this accusation.
It was quickly identified that another law enforcement agency, the Texas Department of Public Safety, was actively investigating a 20-year-old adult male who happened to be an acquaintance of one of the student’s involved in the altercation. The basis of the broader DPS investigation was not focused on activity occurring at the campus and therefore the ongoing investigation was continued by the outside law enforcement agency.
Alvin ISD assigned appropriate discipline to the students that were involved in the altercation. At the point when the incomplete investigation shifted away from the Alvin ISD Police Department, there was no conclusive evidence indicating that our students had been involved in illicit activity.”
A Houston woman known as “Bones Marie” was also charged this week for allegedly forcing a 14-year-old runaway to have sex with more than 20 men after she kidnapped the girl off the street.
Davis faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted for his alleged crimes, and Marie is currently being held in the Harris County Jail on $100,000 bail. Arrests like theirs are not uncommon. In 2016, an amateur Houston rapper was arrested in a sting in Fifth Ward for recruiting runaway minors for sex acts, and authorities nationwide have reported extraordinary numbers of minors involved in prostitution.
Ten years ago, an estimated 600 child prostitutes were on the streets of Houston every night.
The question becomes how to handle the dynamic of prostitution; many women involved in prostitution feel like they have no other option but to sell their bodies, and, as one Illinois undercover female officer described it, men “are just men.”
“If they see it, they want it, and they think they’re not going to get caught,” the officer said in an interview with Time.
In the U.S., Nevada has decriminalized prostitution, and a similar policy in Sweden to only criminalize pimps has seen some success, including fewer street prostitutes and trafficking of young girls.
The crime of prostitution in Texas as committed by either the prostitute or john is a Class B misdemeanor carrying a max fine of $2,000 and no more than 180 days in jail. Penalties escalate for repeat offenders.
Sex crimes involving minors are a whole different story, though. In a statement following Marie’s arrest, Chief Ruben Perez of the DA’s special crimes division said his team is approaching how to handle the continued issue of prostitution with a “renewed focus,” saying,”We’re not going to tolerate human traffickers, pimps or pimpettes enslaving our kids, enslaving our people in our county. We have a cadre of lawyers willing to prosecute these people and we’re ready.”
If you know a sex worker or john who needs help, contact a Houston official as soon as possible.
