MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Prostitution ring recruited 15-year old girls at school doors

A high rating television program exposed the booming industry in some Brazilian states

A Brazilian woman accused of heading a prostitution ring that recruited only 15-year-old and younger girls which were later distributed around the country has been detained by the police of Brazil.

According to a report in Brazzil Magazine, written by Jose Wilson Miranda, ring leader Mariana Brandão was arrested in Campo Grande, capital of the mid-western state or Mato Grosso do Sul, for inducing youngsters through newspaper ads and talking to them at school doors.

When she met a beautiful student she would strike a friendly conversation and explain that she could make lots of money the easy way.

In an interview to Fantástico, the Globo TV show, which broke the news about the ring, a 14-year-old, talked about her experience with Brandão: “She said that it would be easy money and that there was no need to work hard.”

The young lady revealed that the woman was insistent and that she resisted the lady three times, but ended up accepting her offer the fourth time around.

“The woman used to pick me up close to my home,” the girl explained. “She would then take me to her house where men would come and choose among many girls.” According to her, some days there were up to 15 of them, some as young as 12.

The adolescent went further in her story: she was convinced by the madam to sell her virginity. “She separated the girls who were virgins. This man arrived and chose me.” The girl disclosed that for that special sexual encounter the customer paid her 150 Reais. She kept 100 Reais (55 USD) for herself, the rest went for the lady.

Mariana Brandão tries to put on an air of innocence when talking to reporters: “I stopped doing this as soon as I found out that this girl was a minor.”

But Madame Brandão is not the only game in town. The Fantástico show had one of her producers call to one of the adverts looking for young girls. A man on the other side of the line told her: “First I have to meet you and if you match what we are looking for then you'll have it made for the rest of your life.”

In Campo Grande newspaper ads offer jobs for escorts who wish to live in the interior of Sao Paulo or in Parana, in the south of the country and among the more prosperous areas of Brazil. One ad invites for the job 18 year girls or older. However when the Fantástico show producer, posing as a candidate for the position, says she would like to bring along a minor friend with her, the man on the phone proposes a deal.

“She might get herself a false ID. I'm not supposed to know if the document is false or legitimate” says the night-club owner.

Regina Márcia Rodrigues da Mota from Brazil’s Child and Adolescent Protection Office, this kind of crime is very hard to investigate: “The problem is that the girls do not behave as they are victims. Often they protect the seducer and they also protect their customers.”

Data in the last six years from a service called Dial 100 (Disque 100) created by Brazil's Special Secretariat for Human Rights, indicates that in Brazil, Mato Grosso do Sul looses only to Brasília, the Federal District, for sexual exploitation of minors.

Sexual encounters with minors in Campo Grande, according to the police, often happen during the afternoon when the girl's parents are working. These dates by and large take place in motels whose owners many times are part of the prostitution scheme.

Campo Grande's Child Protection Bureau receives an average of 80 tips a month on minors sexually abused. They give a portrait of the most common violators.

“Usually they are older men in their 40s, 50s and 60s. One of the customers was 79. They are middle-class, high-middle-class men” says officer Mota.

Some girls are taken to other states with fake documents. A mother told reporters that she almost lost her 14-year-old daughter. The recruiters had already prepared her new ID card where she was made to figure as an 18 year old.

In Brazil inducing prostitution has a maximum penalty of five years of jail; people trafficking carry an eight-year sentence and sex exploitation of minors, ten years.