By Som Lisaius,
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) - Living in Southern Arizona, you don't have to go very far to find prostitutes. Certain parts of town are notorious for call girls. Though in some cases, the women being solicited aren't women at all. They're children...some of them, barely teenagers
"They've got about 30 girls there," an anonymous man says, unaware of our camera. "And I've seen some pretty girls there. I mean, girls that will look 15 and 16, but with makeup and all, they might look barely 18."
KOLD News 13 conducted this hidden camera investigation in Nogales, Sonora a few years ago. All it took was ten dollars to get people on the street to tell us where to find children for sex.
"It's sad,you know," Nogales resident Ricardo Perez said. "To think that all those kids are risking their lives."
Here in Tucson, child prostitution isn't nearly as prevalent as it is Nogales. And our proximity to Mexico is one of the main reasons why. Still, even one case is too many. Last year, former Tanque Verde Schools Superintendent Tom Rogers pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a teenage boy.
And just today, former NFL superstar Lawrence Taylor was indicted on allegations of rape and imprisonment of a 16 year old girl he reportedly paid $300 for.
"That one's even worse to me," says Tucson resident Thomas Taccone. "That's just a whole another level of just wrong."
Precisely why AZ Governor Jan Brewer signed a new law today cracking down on anyone who solicits sex from an underaged prostitute.
"That's immediately the first defense they throw out," says Tucson Police Sgt. Fabian Pacheco. "That I thought the person was 18."
Thanks to this new law not knowing no longer cuts it. It's now a felony to solicit sex from an underaged prostitute. And it will likely land you some serious time behind bars to think about your mistake.
"Good, good. That's how it should be," Taccone said. "They should get as much jail time as possible."
"Any piece of legislation that can come out to protect children from acts of is certainly something that we welcome,"Sgt. Pacheco added.
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