HOUSTON (WSVN) — An investigation has revealed a 14-year-old girl from Houston initially believed to have run away had allegedly been turned into a “sex slave” by another teenage girl, said prosecutors.
According to FOX 26, when investigators received the case of a missing 14-year-old girl, earlier this month, “Police were investigating a runaway,” said Harris County assistant district attorney Joanne Musick.
But a prosecutor told a judge, during a probable cause hearing, Friday, that the girl had been forced to prostitute herself for money by 19-year-old Denise Coronado and another male co-defendant.
According to prosecutors, the victim told law enforcement officers that she was walking down a street when she was pulled into a van and driven to a wooded area. She was then kept in the van against her will for five days.
Then, she was taken to a motel in Houston, where she was introduced to Coronado.
Coronado threatened the girl, burned her with a cigarette and forced her to engage in prostitution. Coronado even took photographs of the girl and published them on a website called backpage.com.
For an entire week, the 14-year-old victim was forced to have sex with more than 20 men.
She was later able to escape.
Coronado was charged, Friday, with compelling prostitution. If she is convicted, the felony carries a penalty of up to 20 years in state prison. She is scheduled to appear in 176th District Court on Monday to be arraigned.
The Houston Police Department vice division’s Human Trafficking Unit is continuing its investigation into the case and hope to find Coronado’s accomplice.
Furthermore, officers are trying to determine whether any other children were forced into prostitution by Coronado.
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