S Attorney's Office, and local counseling agencies to create Project Raise, a program that offers diversion to prostitutes who are first time offenders, or have no felonies on their record. Local and federal agents are especially concerned about child prostitution. James Scott with the Special Investigations Division of the Tucson Police Department says they are coming across prostitutes who are just teenagers. We have had some cases involving child prostitution, minors involved in sex acts for pay," said Lt.
Tucson News Now has learned that the U. Attorney's office has partnered up with local law enforcement agencies to form a working group right here in Tucson, to target human trafficking. Those who qualified were brought to a local Church. There they were arraigned by a judge and offered diversion.
Diversion means no jail time or charges, if they complete a special program. In this case it means enrolling in counseling and taking classes, aimed at getting them off the street and reforming their lives. Almost always there is trauma, almost always there is addiction," said Darwin. The prostitutes brought into the program also had a chance to work with advocates, women who had once been victims themselves.
We spoke to three advocates. All tell Tucson News Now, they were victims of child prostitution. One was also a victim of sex trafficking. A boyfriend encouraged her to advertise herself on websites. They put up some racy pictures on websites like Craigslist and Backpages, and she was in business. Hayden said she was only years old at the time. I had nobody. It was almost like this crazy world. It was fast and I was young, and it was money. Later on it got scary as we got more involved with drugs.
Things got more serious. There were guns, there were times I was raped," said Hayden. Hayden said she was arrested at least 13 times as a teenager. She finally broke free from the world of prostitution after getting sentenced to take part in the Teen Challenge program. For Brandy Viegas, the entry into the world of prostitution happened at the age of Viegas said she was raped and ran away from home. She moved in with five men who did not speak English. They got her hooked on drugs.
