"Eugene" "prostitution" News

Homeless advocates say news of a teen sex trafficking ring is sad -- but not surprising. "Somebody is trying to use them for illicit sex activities for pornography or exchange sexual favors for a place to live," a volunteer who works with homeless teens said.

Three people from Eugene and Springfield face charges they recruited girls under age 18 as prostitutes, instructing the girls on how much to charge for various sex acts and using the Web site Craiglist to recruit clients.

Prostitues are leaving the streets and heading online to attract customers.  Troublingly, more underage girls are becoming involved with online prostitution in Lane County. Since March, Eugene police have found 10 prostitutes ages 14 to 17 in the area.

An Illinois man who hired a prostitute who turned out to be 15 has been sentenced to 50 days in jail. James Matthew Dublin of Elgin, Ill., pleaded guilty to sex and drug charges and was sentenced Tuesday in Lane County Circuit Court.

In the second such sweep this year, law enforcement agents converged on the Portland area to hunt down child-sex-trafficking rings. Their search took them through five neighborhoods in Oregon and Southwest Washington, some under investigation for months.

An investigation into an alleged prostitution ring that advertised underage girls on the Internet has resulted in a federal child sex trafficking charge against a Springfield man, 28-year-old DeSean Lavar Milton.

A sting operation involving an undercover police officer posing as a prostitute July 10 and July 11 resulted in the arrests of 13 men on suspicion of prostitution. The class A misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $6,250 fine.

A guilty plea in a case involving prostitutes as young as 14 offers a glimpse into a world of pimps, prostitutes and the former owner of a Springfield restaurant, who pleaded guilty to rape and sodomy on Wednesday.

Police are investigating whether a man accused of groping two women in nearby Corvallis is the same man wanted for flashing and grabbing women near the University of Oregon campus last week.

Natasha Richardson, a gifted and precocious heiress to acting royalty whose career highlights included the film "Patty Hearst" and a Tony-winning performance in a stage revival of "Cabaret," died after suffering an apparent head injury from a skiing accident. She was 45.

A prohibited occupation known for walking the streets now contacts clients by surfing the Web, and the problem of advertising prostitution on the Internet has the attention of police in Eugene, Ore.

Graffiti, tattoos, and baggy clothing used to give clues of who could be in a gang but these days, police say, that's not always the case.