from www.examiner.com – The Super Bowl could mean big business for pimps and prostitutes, law enforcement officials said Monday, Jan. 31.
At a recent sex trafficking prevention meeting, officials said scores of pimps will likely attempt to traffic thousands of prostitutes–many of whom are underage– to the Dallas-Fort Worth areas this weekend to cater to football fans with wads of cash to throw away.
The prediction was made largely on past trends.
During major sporting events, officials said Monday, the sex industry sees tremendous booms in business, with the Super Bowl the one pimps and prostitutes look forward to each year.
“The Super Bowl is one of the biggest human trafficking events in the United States,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said.
The business is spurred mostly by pimps, who lure young girls into the flesh trade with money, drugs and seemingly lavish opportunities to get rich.
During Super Bowl weekends, officials have investigated dozens of reports of young prostitutes working areas around the stadium, hotels, night clubs and restaurants. It is also not uncommon for otherwise legitimate business people to participate in prostitution rings during the big game.
“At previous Super Bowls, pimps hired cab drivers to turn their vehicles into mobile brothels,” Traffick911 Executive Director Deena Graves said.
Most of the girls involved are runaways who are willing to take refuge with almost anyone.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, about 300,000 girls, between the ages of 11 and 17, become prostituteis every year.
When large sporting events aren’t on the calendar, pimps force girls to work shopping malls and other crowded areas. Some girls are forced to work in massage parlors and often sent to hotels through highly organized escort services.
Before Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers kicks off Feb. 6, some 10,000 sex workers are predicted to be in place and ready to accept customers, Jerry Strickland, a spokesman from the Office of the Attorney General of Texas said.
A Dallas law enforcement insider said police agencies have made arresting johns, prostitutes and pimps a priority this weekend.