A high school valedictorian and two of her female friends have gone on trial for allegedly forcing girls as young as 13 into prostitution after luring them on the promise of friendship.
The defendants – two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old – allegedly used social media to invite their victims to a social housing complex in Ottawa, before stripping, robbing and photographing them.
They then allegedly drugged the girls and made them perform sex acts on johns before taking the money they made. If the girls would not comply, they were allegedly beaten.
Seven victims aged between 13 and 17 have come forward, explaining to police that they met their alleged attackers through social networking sites, including Facebook, or community projects.
Accused: Two of the three teenage girls who allegedly ran a prostitution ring from an Ottawa apartment
The alleged attacks have stunned Ottawa community - not only for the heinous nature of the crimes inflicted on their peers, but because the girls were promising students and the ‘go to’ babysitters.
They were arrested last June – when they were just 15 and 16 – and their trial began this week, with all girls pleading not guilty to 74 charges. The trial is expected to last four weeks.
The defendants allegedly led the prostitution ring between April and June last year, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
The victims believed they were going to the apartment to socialise with the girls – but when they arrived they were told they were going to be escorts.
Police said victims reported that they were made to drink alcohol or smoke marijuana before forced into high heels and made to have sex against their will. Two of the victims said they were raped.
The defendants allegedly made one fifteen-year-old girl pose nude and beat her so badly that her injuries were still visible in police photographs taken weeks later.
One 17-year-old victim said she arrived at the home and was forced to pose nude before being picked up by a john who made her wear a pink bathing suit before raping her, prosecutors said.
She was paid $180 but the girls took the money from her. They allegedly said she had not earned enough and she was sent to meet another man – who put her in a cab when she started crying.
Another girl who was just 13 was left at the apartment by her mother, who thought her daughter was having a sleepover with the girls.
But the young girl returned home the next day in high heel boots and a trench coat and said she had been made to pose for nude photographs, prosecutors said.
She was allegedly taken to a man’s apartment, but he refused to have sexual contact with her when he realized she was there against her will.
Another girl said she was attacked by one of the girls when she said she wanted to leave.
‘She’s on my time,’ one of the defendants allegedly said. ‘She goes home when I’m ready to go home.’
Police allegedly found nude photographs of that girl on the defendant’s cell phone. Investigators also allegedly found victims’ clothing at the apartment and numbers for ‘tricks’ in the cell phone.
At the apartment, the bedroom was covered with messages in marker, such as ‘sex is like chocolate’ and ‘money over everything $’, the Citizen reported.
Victims: (File picture) The girls told police they were beaten if they did not comply with the demands
One of the alleged attackers also called herself the ‘female bill gates’ on Twitter.
‘Ain’t no problem like a hoe problem,’ she tweeted. ‘I’ve got hoe problemssss.’
The charges against the girls include human trafficking, abduction, forcible confinement, robbery, sexual assault, assault, and printing and publishing child pornography.
Prosecutors want the girls to be sentenced as adults if they are found guilty. This could see them behind bars for up to 14 years. A juvenile sentence would be just three years.
The two younger girls remain in jail while the oldest is out on bail.
