On Other Blogs
PI.com: Fake Cop Raped Two Child Prostitutes Hired From Weekly's Escort Site
The PI.com reports that a Seattle man posing as a police officer has been charged with raping one adult woman and two child prostitutes. The child prostitutes, both 15, were hired from Backpage.com, a classified site affiliated with the Weekly
(and co-owned, along with the Weekly, by Village Voice Media) that advertises escort services.
Seattle Weekly announced earlier this week that it will no longer cooperate with efforts by Mayor Mike McGinn to prevent child sex trafficking on Backpage, arguing that the site is simply too large (with 30 million users nationwide) to check IDs for every escort; that just as some minors will inevitably be able to get alcohol at bars, some children will be sold through the site; and that McGinn's efforts to publicize the issue of child sex trafficking through the site are merely a crusade to boost his approval ratings.
Earlier this week, KIRO TV ran an interview with a mother whose 15-year-old daughter was kidnapped and forced into prostitution through Backpage.com within 48 hours of running away from home.
One girl, who was 15 in July 2010, said Tarver hired her off of Backpage.com – a Village Voice Media-owned classified advertising service currently under fire for allowing prostituted children and their pimps to post ads on the page.
According to charging documents, the girl arrived at the apartment when Tarver identified himself as a police officer and handcuffed her, then pretended to make a phone call for backup. Tarver then allowed the girl to send a text message to her pimp to say she’d been arrested and took her into his bedroom, where he raped her.
Like the other alleged juvenile victim, the girl had been advertised as a prostitute on Backpage.com, according to charging documents. Police recovered records showing Tarver had called the number listed on her Backpage advertisement.
The girl told police Tarver had sex with her, then identified himself as a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, according to charging documents. When she told him she didn’t believe him, Tarver allegedly threw her against a wall, displayed a Taser and pistol, and then questioned her about her age.
“(The girl) answered she was only 15 years old, asking him to please not let her mom find out,” MacDonald told the court. “Tarver responded that her mom didn’t need to know about it because she was not considered a minor now.”
Seattle Weekly announced earlier this week that it will no longer cooperate with efforts by Mayor Mike McGinn to prevent child sex trafficking on Backpage, arguing that the site is simply too large (with 30 million users nationwide) to check IDs for every escort; that just as some minors will inevitably be able to get alcohol at bars, some children will be sold through the site; and that McGinn's efforts to publicize the issue of child sex trafficking through the site are merely a crusade to boost his approval ratings.
Earlier this week, KIRO TV ran an interview with a mother whose 15-year-old daughter was kidnapped and forced into prostitution through Backpage.com within 48 hours of running away from home.
