Ran across this article ... Found it interesting.

Especially since so many naive (and mentally damaged) teens
not only find their way into porn -- but doing privates as well.



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Teen prostitutes are traded like cattle and beaten like dogs, don't keep their money and can be lured into the profession with sweet talk and designer handbags.

This warning comes from an unusual source: convicted pimp Antoin Thurman.

"I've realized I wouldn't want to see my daughter, my mother or sister in this predicament I had these girls in," said Thurman, a Phoenix resident serving a three-year sentence in the Arizona Department of Corrections, ASPC-Douglas. "Not only did I mess up my life but I messed up their lives."

Thurman, 21, this week described in an educational video how he recruited girls at malls and clubs and lured them into selling their bodies.

The 20-minute video is the brainchild of Judge Lex Anderson of Lake Pleasant Justice Court. Anderson sought and received $42,000 from the Judicial Collection Enhancement Fund to do the project. Anderson has spearheaded other educational programs focusing on topics such as drinking and driving and domestic violence.

A case in his courtroom involving a teenage prostitute stirred Anderson's interest and led to his discovery that child prostitution was not an aberration. It's estimated 8,000 children in Arizona are victims of sexual exploitation.

Determined to raise public awareness, Anderson sat across from Thurman on Tuesday and questioned him as a crew filmed the exchange in the chapel of the Maricopa County Towers Jail.

Thurman fell into pimping at age 16 when a good friend asked him to be her bodyguard when she prostituted herself for rent money.

"I started making big money, very big money," Thurman said. "I moved up. I went from one to two girls to a maximum of four girls."

Thurman typically wore a suit and drove a Cadillac when he was on the hunt. He also kept an eye out for girls with backpacks walking down the street after school hours, an indication they were runaways.

He said he would also approach girls who dressed "slutty," because it showed him they lacked self-esteem and would more likely fall into his trap. He would wine and dine and sweet talk the prey.

Once he hooked a girl into prostitution, he kept her there by providing her with housing, jewelry, Prada handbags, Gucci, concerts and sometimes threats.

Thurman said the girls were often sold or traded among pimps like cattle. He traded one of his girls for the title to another pimp's Escalade.

He said that although he didn't entice girls with promises of modeling careers or a shot at fame like other pimps, he would have if he got desperate.

Thurman said teen prostitutes come from all socioeconomic backgrounds - attracted by the goods he waves in front of them or they want to live life on the edge.

He said pimps from Texas, Nevada and California are coming to Arizona to make money and estimated that up to 300 pimps are in the Phoenix area.

Life for prostitutes is hard, Thurman said. They don't get to keep any of the money and face violence from their tricks and pimps.

"I've watched a girl get beat by the butt of a gun and another choked out for doing stupid stuff," he said.

Some prostitutes, like his cousin, end up dead.

Anderson said that the video will be completed by the end of January and that about 1,500 DVDs are to be distributed, including to schools.

Interviews with the Maricopa County medical examiner, a psychologist, a detective and parents of a victim will be included in the video, intertwined with a letter read by a fictitious dead teenage prostitute, said Brad Michaelson, president of Brand Canyon Co. The Scottsdale company is producing and creating the video for Maricopa County Superior Court.

Sounds like the Derek Hayse story. " Bitch betta have my money!"

And all this time I thought being a prostitute was glamorous.