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Wichita child-trafficking
victim, now 18, charged with
trafficking
3-16-2016 - Wichita Eagle - BY
ROY WENZL -
rwenzl@wichitaeagle.com
Police rescued a 13-year-old
girl named Kristen from a human
trafficker’s trailer on
Christmas Day in Wichita a few
years back. Her story inspired
others.
Authorities told her story to
highlight how pimps force
children into acts of
prostitution, even in Wichita.
The tragedy of her life inspired
hundreds. Andover mother
Jennifer White founded ICT S.O.S.,
a popular nonprofit charity that
helps trafficking victims and
other vulnerable children.
But Kristen has lived in the
Sedgwick County Jail for the
past seven months. In September,
on her 18th birthday,
prosecutors filed three felony
counts of human trafficking
against her. They allege in a
probable cause affidavit that
she helped a 16-year-old Wichita
girl make money for pimps.
Marc Bennett, the Sedgwick
County district attorney, said
his office acted after police
presented evidence. Others say
it’s not that simple.
Kristen in September asked for
help from the Center for
Combating Human Trafficking,
based at Wichita State
University. The Eagle is not
using Kristen’s last name
because she is the victim of a
sex crime.
The center’s director, Karen
Countryman-Roswurm, made the
case public last week with
postings on the center’s
Facebook page.
She asked Bennett to release
Kristen. When he said no,
Countryman-Roswurm made the case
public. The center started an
online “petition to the
governor” on change.org. And she
has helped to organize a rally
set for 4 p.m. on Friday in
front of the Sedgwick County
Courthouse.
“The system has failed Kristen,”
the center’s petition says. “Our
community has failed Kristen.”
THE SYSTEM HAS FAILED KRISTEN.
OUR COMMUNITY HAS FAILED
KRISTEN.
Petition on change.org
“Instead of receiving services
and support for the trauma she
has endured, this young woman is
facing significant jail time
while those who exploited her
are prosecuted minimally or even
walk free,” the petition
statement says.
Alternatives discussed
Countryman-Roswurm said police
turned on a victim and that
prosecutors filed charges after
Kristen stopped giving evidence
against others.
Bennett denied that. And he said
it is not true the system failed
her.
YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE ALL THE
HELP THAT HAS BEEN OFFERED TO
HER.
Marc Bennett, Sedgwick County
district attorney
“You would not believe all the
help that has been offered to
her,” he said.
Gordon Ramsay, Wichita’s new
police chief, disputed that
police failed her. “I am
impressed that the investigators
and leadership of the department
want to be as victim-centered as
they are. I’ve seen that
first-hand,” he said.
Bennett, Countryman-Roswurm and
Kristen’s defense attorney,
Steve House, met on Monday to
discuss possible alternatives to
incarceration for the woman,
Countryman-Roswurm said. If
Kristen agrees to the
alternatives, it’s possible
she’ll be released to take part
in a “prosperity plan” the
center has proposed for her
care, Countryman-Roswurm said.
Bennett wouldn’t comment about
that, saying he can’t talk about
a pending criminal case. But he
said that the goal all along,
even with the criminal charges,
has never been to send her to
prison but to get her the help
she needs.
‘Under the control of a pimp’
Police in September wrote a
probable cause affidavit, filed
in the criminal case of a
19-year-old man who is facing
human trafficking charges
connected to Kristen’s case,
according to court records.
In that affidavit, a Wichita
police detective, L.L. Klumpp,
wrote about several acts he says
Kristen committed last July in
helping a 16-year-old Wichita
girl earn money by having sex
with men.
But the affidavit also makes it
clear that law enforcement
thinks the 19-year-old man,
Tyler O. Brown of Wichita, was
acting as a pimp, controlling
the illegal sex and taking the
money, Countryman-Roswurm said.
Brown is in jail awaiting trial,
according to court records.
Countryman-Roswurm said the acts
that Kristen is accused of are
typical of what some child
trafficking victims do to
survive.
“She made poor choices. But she
did that while operating under
the control of a pimp,”
Countryman-Roswurm said.
Rally’s goal: To draw
attention
Countryman-Roswurm said she
tried to talk Bennett out of
prosecuting Kristen weeks ago.
When that didn’t work, she
decided to call the U.S.
attorney, the Kansas attorney
general, multiple child advocacy
agencies in Wichita and the
media.
In a news release issued
Tuesday, Countryman-Roswurm said
Friday’s rally will demand
justice “for trafficking victims
believed to be receiving unfair
and harsh legal punishment.”
“The goal is to draw attention
to the cases of two young
ladies, Kristen and LaTesha (an
unrelated criminal case from
Michigan) who as minors were
sexually exploited and are now
subject to adult penalties as a
result of activities that
stemmed from their trafficking
victimization,” a news release
from the Center for Combating
Human Trafficking says.
But it is not unusual for a sex
crime victim to also be charged
with crimes, Bennett said.
Before he was elected as
district attorney, he prosecuted
sex crimes full time as a deputy
district attorney.
“I spent 14 years prosecuting
criminals who hurt children,”
Bennett said. “I cannot tell you
how many of those criminals told
me that they were victims, too,
when they were children.
“I believed them. But as much as
I felt for them about that, I
still had to uphold the law.”
Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker
of The Eagle |
