May 29, 2008, 11:43PM
Fort Worth teens plead guilty to running prostitution ring FORT WORTH, Texas Three teenage gang members accused of forcing girls as young as 12 into prostitution each pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of compelling prostitution.
The boys two are 17 and one is 16 will be released no later than their 19th birthdays, according to the plea agreement. Prosecutors dropped other charges, including human trafficking, in exchange for their guilty pleas, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on its Web site Thursday.
Charges against others involved in the ring are pending in adult court.
Several teens were arrested after police discovered the prostitution ring in August when a woman was caught allegedly offering men sex with a 14-year-old girl for $50. Four gang members were arrested Jan. 3 after they had taken the 14-year-old to a convenience store to have sex with the owner, a regular customer of the prostitution ring, police said.
After befriending the girls and getting them high, the Varrio Central gang members took the girls to some regular customers and then sought other men by trolling apartment complexes, offering the girls' services for $50, police said.
The gang apparently targeted runaways and other girls with unstable homes, and if the girls refused to have sex for money the members beat and sexually assaulted them and threatened their families, police said.
One girl's mother said Thursday she was disappointed the gang members would not spend more time in state custody and were not tried as adults. Her daughter is in counseling and is afraid of them, she told the Fort Worth newspaper.
"These girls have to live with what happened for the rest of their lives," said the mother, who was not named to conceal the identity of her daughter. "These boys aren't going to serve much time. I don't think that after a year and half, they'll be ready to get back into society."