Jeffrey Fisher was arrested for promoting prostitution, witness tampering and eluding police. He had met Stephanie, a 14 year old girl on an online chat room. They quickly started a sexual relationship. In July on 2006, she agreed to work as a prostitute. Though she pulled in nearly $500 a day working along the stretch of Aurora known to prostitutes and police as "the track", she said the money wasn't nearly enough for Fisher. He gambled away the money she earned, beat her if he was unhappy, called her names and followed her, demanding that she work harder. Within months the beatings worsened and escalated into death threats. She begged police to take her to jail so she could get away from Fisher. She went to Children of the Night in Los Angeles last February and stayed about 3 months - until she was desperate to see Fisher. In May, after returning to Aurora, she's finally had enough. She helped the Seattle Police Department Vice Unit go after Fisher. He was finally arrested after fleeing to California.
Location
United States · Aurora Avenue North, Seattle, WA · 2008
(location generalized to protect survivors) Response & intervention
The article stated that juvenile prostitution is a growing problem in Seattle, where police have investigated seven cases in the past five weeks. One of the Seattle Police Department's Vice Unit detectives said that he and other officers often book teenage prostitutes into the King County Youth Service Center the juvenile jail rather than taking them to Spruce Street because the latter isn't a lockdown facility. Officer Long was quoted as saying, "We will often select jail because we know they won't be allowed to walk out the door. We would prefer to have a way to get them off the street and initiate help. There is no bridge between police and social service providers. Thus, even though Stephanie had been given some help through Children of the Night", apparently no other services were provided. She returned to prostitute to Fisher.
According to the article, she was sent to the Children of the Night in Los Angeles, but after 3 months she returned to Fisher because she was desperate to see him.
No other services were mentioned for Stephanie. It did say that Detective Bryan Van Brunt, the officer who led the investigation into Fisher said he checks in with Stephanie about once a month to make sure she's staying our of trouble. He said he worried about her because Fisher has friends he can still have contact with and who knows what his friends are willig to do. Van Brunt believes, the article said, that there needs to be more resources to help juvenile prostitutes get back on their feet.
Information is from a February 26th newspaper article in the Seattle Times. The title is "Prostitute, 15, couldn't find help to get out".
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