Oasis Home Used As Brothel In Foster Care Prostitution Ring

Video From NBC 6 WTVJ :http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/Four-Charged-in-Foster-Care-Prostitution-Ring-160364605.html

By CURT ANDERSON
The Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, June 26, 2012 at 8:12 a.m.

Esther Jacobo, left, managing director in Miami for the Department of Children and Families, speaks Tuesday in Miami during the announcement of the arrest of four men accused of operating an underage prostitution ring that lured vulnerable teenage foster girls into the sex trade. At right is Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. (Wilfredo Lee | The Associated Press)

MIAMI | Four men are accused of operating an underage prostitution ring that lured vulnerable foster girls into the sex trade with cellphones, gifts of clothing and attention they did not get elsewhere, authorities said Tuesday.
The girls were paid $100 for each time they had sex with a man and were allowed to keep up to $40 of that amount, according to an investigator's affidavit. Many were recruited by one of the girls, identified by her initials S.S., who had been targeted by suspected ringleader Eric George "E-Nasty" Earle, said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.
Rundle said most of the girls were between 15 and 17 years old and were in foster care because of previous physical or sexual abuse and neglect.
"They targeted our most vulnerable children," Rundle told reporters. "They are predators."
Charged in the case are Earle, 29; Willie Calvin "Tank" Bivens, 65; Anturrell Nathaniel Dean, 30; and 34-year-old David Zarifi. Each faces multiple counts of conspiracy racketeering and child sex charges and could face lengthy prison sentences if convicted.
Court records did not list lawyers Tuesday for Earle, Bivens and Dean. A lawyer representing Zarifi did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Law enforcement and child welfare officials around the country long have struggled with similar cases.
Pimps prey on runaways and foster children, who are often victims of sexual abuse. They typically pose as boyfriends, showering girls with attention and gifts, then slowly lure them into turning tricks, experts say. The girls are often fiercely loyal to the pimps and refuse to acknowledge they are victims or to cooperate with police, making them difficult cases to prosecute.
Rundle called it an example of "trauma bonding."
"The girls don't really want to talk about it. They don't want to tattle-tale," she said.
In this case, the biggest enticement was a cellphone that allowed the teenage victims the all-important ability to text — but it also provided an easy way for the gang to set up meetings for sex with "johns," officials said.
The investigation began in December when a 17-year-old foster child identified only as M.D. told an employee at a foster care group home she had been having sex with a man. That led to a call to police. A search of her cellphone turned up graphic sexual images and pictures of her with Zarifi, according to the affidavit.
The girl also told investigators she had been recruited at a group home by another teenager, identified in documents as S.S., who said she could earn money by having sex.  

Authorities said the ring picked M.D. up at school or at the group home and often took her to Bivens' house in Homestead to have sex with men.