Working to end sexual exploitation

Assemblymember William Scarborough, sponsor of the Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act, was part of a forum on the sexual exploitation of young girls which included news journalist Ann Tripp, New York radio station WBLS Community Affairs director Doctor Bob Lee and Lynsey Johnson, managing editor of Shuga Magazine.
The forum followed a screening at York College of the documentary ‘Very Young Girls” that chronicles the journey of young girls through the underground world of sexual exploitation in New York City and is part of the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS) “Girls Are Not for Sale” campaign to highlight and spread awareness of the problem.
GEMS serves as a haven for girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. The organization was founded by Rachel Lloyd, a young woman who had been sexually exploited as a teenager. GEMS has helped save hundreds of young women and girls who have been sexually seduced, prostituted and trafficked.
An estimated 200,000 to 300,000 adolescents are sexually exploited annually in the U.S. The average age of entry into prostitution today in the U.S. is 13 years old, according to Scarborough.
Scarborough said that under New York State law, no child under the age of 17 can legally consent to having sex. That law excluded children under the age of 17 who engaged in sex in exchange for money or drugs. They could be arrested and charged with a crime. That is no longer the case.
The Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act (A5258), which took four years of effort to get passed, protects these vulnerable children, often as young as 12, by providing specialized services which include protective housing and physical and mental health services.
Scarborough said the first person convicted of sexual trafficking was from South Ozone Park.
Woodley Gaston, a 22-year-old male, was charged with sex trafficking, second and third-degree promoting prostitution, third-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child. He allegedly kept a 16-year-old girl hostage and forced her to work as a prostitute. She was given a quota of 10 men per day. She was forced to give Gaston her prostitution earnings. He was also accused of having sex with the girl and repeatedly threatened to kill her if she left him or found another pimp.
“These pimps are diabolical in keeping these kids in sexual servitude,” Scarborough said. “These children are runaways from dysfunctional homes and these pimps lure them with promises of nice clothing and a home or place to sleep. They promise to protect them and these kids call them Daddy.”
The documentary “Very Young Girls” will be premiering on Showtime on December 11th.