Woman charged with trafficking girl as prostitute in Las Vegas
A woman was arrested in August on a sex trafficking charge after Las Vegas police found a girl working as a prostitute, according to a recently released report.
A police officer was patrolling near Tropicana Avenue and Cameron Street around 8:50 p.m. Aug. 12 when he saw a girl “dressed in provocative clothing, and loitering in the area for no apparent reason,” according to the arrest report. Police said the area is associated with prostitution.
The girl got into a blue Nissan pickup with a man, and when police pulled the truck over, a records check showed that the girl was a reported missing child. Police found a condom and an iPhone in the girl’s purse. Her age was redacted in the report.
She told police that she worked as a prostitute but only did certain sex acts. She said she’s been in a relationship with a woman she called “Baby,” later identified as 24-year-old Dijanae Christmas.
The girl told police that she had “known Christmas since she was a child,” but the woman initially told her they shouldn’t start dating until the girl was an adult. Christmas knew she engaged in prostitution and the girl decided to “choose up,” or accept Christmas as her new pimp, the report said.
According to the report, Christmas enforced rules in the relationship, including that the girl has to engage in prostitution, give a portion of the money she earned to Christmas and meet a quota for how much she earns each night.
Throughout early August, the girl went on five prostitution “dates,” earned about $500 and gave $150 to Christmas, the report said.
When shown a photo lineup including a picture of Christmas, the girl “began to cry that she didn’t want Christmas to get in trouble” before correctly identifying her and calling the woman her girlfriend, according to the report.
Christmas is charged with sex trafficking a child under 18 and living from the earnings of a prostitute, court records show. She was booked into the Clark County Detention Center but was released on her own recognizance on Aug. 26.
Contact Alexis Ford at aford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0335. Follow @alexisdford on Twitter.
