A 15-year-old girl sexually exploited by a human-trafficking ring spent five days locked up in a juvenile-detention center because Arkansas State Police investigators pressed prostitution charges against her, an agency spokesman confirmed Thursday.
The girl's arrest is an example of a common law enforcement practice across the country that was heavily criticized in a report prepared for members of Congress last year because it treats victims as if they are criminals.
The girl's case also illuminates the lack of a shelter in Arkansas specially designed to house and treat victims of human trafficking, doctors and law enforcement officials say.
Earlier this week, state police reported that they had rescued the girl and arrested Amber Nicole Johnson, 28, the woman they say forced the teenager into prostitution.
But the agency now acknowledges that the girl also was arrested and placed in the Pulaski County Juvenile Detention Center on youthful-offender charges.
The girl was in the lockup from April 29 through May 4 along with other youths charged with a variety of crimes until a judge released her into the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
State police spokesman Bill Sadler said troopers chose to charge the girl so they could put her in the lockup and keep her safe. They didn't intend to follow through with the charges, he said.
"The only way that law enforcement officers on Wednesday night of last week had any means to protect this child and hold her until an appropriate facility could be located was to place her in a juvenile lockup facility," Sadler said.
"There was no facility in the state of Arkansas that could be called upon to handle her needs that evening," he added.
State police's handling of the case mirrors controversial tactics described in an August report by the Congressional Research Service.
The report said that youths in human-trafficking cases are considered victims under federal law, yet "at the state and local levels, juvenile victims of sex trafficking may at times be treated as criminals or juvenile delinquents."
The report described the situation that state police said they encountered with the teenage girl.
"[D]espite knowing that the juvenile is a victim, law enforcement may charge the individual with a crime so as to place the victim into one of the only available safe and secure environments -- a detention facility within the juvenile justice system," the report said.
But locking up child victims of sex crimes and treating them like criminals can further traumatize them and leave them with criminal records for crimes they were forced to commit, the report found.
The report noted that in 2012 -- the latest year for which data were available -- state and local authorities arrested nearly 580 youths nationwide for prostitution or "commercialized vice." But there is limited data on whether other charges were involved in their arrests or how those youths were treated in detention.
Sadler said he didn't know whether the girl arrested last week was kept isolated from other youths at the detention center. Troopers were informed that she would undergo a medical evaluation at some point during her stay, he said.
A phone message left for Carma Gardner, the director of the Pulaski County Juvenile Detention Center, wasn't returned by close of business Thursday. A staff member at the facility said Gardner was off for two weeks.
Dorcy Corbin, a Pulaski County public defender who handles juvenile cases, said she couldn't discuss the specifics of the case because of juvenile confidentiality laws but she disagrees with the state police's methods.
"I believe charging a juvenile with any offense after a child has been subjected to sex trafficking for any period of time is shameful," she said.
Arkansas Code Annotated 5-70-102 provides that being a victim of human trafficking is an "affirmative defense to prosecution" for prostitution, but Corbin said state lawmakers need to consider amending the law to further protect sex-trafficking victims from being locked up.
Corbin said that in Pulaski County other trafficking victims have been locked up, which she believes opened those children up to further trauma.
"We're not talking about a child who's done something wrong. We're talking about a child who is a victim. A detention facility is not a place for a victim who hasn't committed any crime," she said.
In the 15-year-old's case, Sadler said the agency intended to have her arrest expunged and the charges dropped once it could find a facility to house her.
As of Thursday, Sadler said any record of the arrest in the databases of the Arkansas Crime Information Center had been removed, and the agency has asked prosecutors to drop any charges.
John Johnson, Pulaski County chief deputy prosecuting attorney, said he couldn't comment on the specifics of the girl's case or confirm any disposition of her charges. In general, he said, sex-trafficking victims shouldn't be arrested just to hold them in a secure environment.
They should be taken to Arkansas Children's Hospital or another medical facility so they can undergo sexual-assault examinations, he said.
"That takes precedence over any kind of other investigations, especially when it's involving a juvenile," Johnson said, noting that guards can be posted at clinics and at hospitals to ensure a victim's safety.
Dr. Karen Farst, a child-abuse pediatrician who practices at Arkansas Children's Hospital, said doctors are specially trained to handle medical problems that arise out of sexual assault or human trafficking. But the hospital doesn't offer psychiatric services or shelter beds for longer-term care.
Farst served on a 40-member task force convened by the Arkansas attorney general's office that identified a need for a shelter for victims of human trafficking, but the Legislature didn't fund the program.
"We really don't have in the state a safe house that would specifically be for people that are trafficked. It's really hard for the foster-care system of DHS to shelter these kids because they can have some of their own safety risks that they would bring into a foster home," she said.
Human Services Department spokesman Amy Webb said sex-trafficking victims most often can't be placed in typical foster homes because of safety concerns, including that members of the trafficking ring may go looking for the children.
Also, "a lot of children in these cases have a history of running away," she said.
According to Jonesboro Police Department records, the 15-year-old arrested by state police ran away from foster care around Thanksgiving of last year.
The girl then traveled with Amber Johnson, who is a relative, and Johnson then forced her into prostitution, according to the probable-cause affidavit filed in Craighead County District Court. The affidavit said Johnson was paid $40 to $50 for each sexual encounter with the girl.
"The victim reported that she was having sexual intercourse with (4) four to (6) six men each day and was told that Amber Johnson's children would not be able to eat if she stopped prostituting," the affidavit said.
The girl's older sister also was forced into prostitution, according to the affidavit. The older girl also had run away from foster care.
Amber Johnson has been charged in state court with trafficking of persons, a Class Y felony because it involves a minor that carries a potential sentence of 10 years to life in prison. She was being held at the Craighead County jail on Thursday evening.
State and federal officials have said the FBI also has begun an investigation related to Johnson's arrest.
State officials announced the investigation and Johnson's arrest this week, but they did not disclose the arrest of the 15-year-old girl. At the time, Sadler told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the girl hadn't been arrested.
On Thursday, Sadler said the arrest information "was not initially available because she was a juvenile, and it had not been disclosed in the internal reporting system." Sadler said he will address any problems that led to the incorrect information being disclosed.
The girl is now safe in a facility specially designed to care for victims of sex trafficking, Sadler said.
State police also will review whether its officers should have handled her case differently.
"Was this the only option?" Sadler said. "That is something that the Arkansas State Police wants to explore further with DHS and our Crimes Against Children Division, and see what options might be on the table in the future."
A Section on 05/08/2015
For more information about human trafficking, visit traffickingresourcecenter.org or contact the national hotline to report trafficking at (888) 373-7888.