Posted on 02/24/2004 11:08:39 AM PST by woofie
A 35-year-old man is charged with child prostitution and kidnapping after his 15-year-old daughter told police he sold her for crack.
The man was arrested Saturday after the girl's mother reported the kidnapping to police. The Journal is withholding his name to protect the teen's privacy.
Police on Monday called the crime "despicable" and "heinous."
"It's a horrible thing that any parent would even consider putting their children in a position such as this," Albuquerque Police spokesman Jeff Arbogast said.
The girl told police she was walking home from a friend's house late Thursday when a car and a truck pulled up behind her. First her father got out of the truck, hugged her and said, "I love you." A large man then got out of the car and grabbed her.
"She tried to break free from the male by scratching and kicking him, but she was not able to get away," a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court states.
They put her in the back of the car, and she said she saw her father walk up to a "skinny" man, who handed him a small packet.
"My daddy sold me for crack" the teen told police. The two men then drove off with her in the back, leaving her father. She told police she tried the doors but couldn't unlock them. She also tried to call her mother by cell phone, but one of the men took her phone.
They drove her to a parking lot, where she said she was sexually assaulted by both men.
"She tried to get away from both males, but in order to control her they would hit her in the face and head," the complaint reads.
At one point, she was knocked unconscious. When she woke up, she was lying behind a garbage bin with her shirt off and jacket torn, the complaint reads. Still dazed, she walked toward her home where she made contact with a neighbor, who got in touch with the teen's mother. Her mother called police.
The girl, whose face was swollen, agreed to a medical exam. Investigators noted the word "bitch" was written on both of her arms. The complaint did not give further details.
Police spokesman Arbogast said Monday that detectives had worked through the weekend on the case and were following any leads that might identify the two men.
He said he'd known of many cases in which parents had acted irresponsibly toward their children. But this one, he said, is particularly appalling "with not only the physical damage that they exposed their child to, (but) the psychological impact that something like this would have for years to come, if not their entire life."
The girl's father is charged with sexual exploitation of children by prostitution, kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
He remained in the Metropolitan Detention Center on Monday. Bond is set at $200,000 cash or surety.
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