Pat Dollard

Tweet

Fox Chicago:

Investigators say Chicago gang members aren’t just selling drugs anymore — they’re also selling young girls and teens for sex.

Now nine accused gang members are off the streets after a massive human trafficking investigation.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez said this investigation was the first in the nation to use state wiretaps to track the offenders running the sex trade.

The 35 page affidavit into the undercover operation called “Little Girl Lost” shows the scope of the crisis in our own backyard with girls from our area as young as 12 being sold into sex slavery.

“I’ve worked approximately 23 years in sheriff’s department, the last 12 I’ve done child exploitation crimes and this is the worst with what we’ve seen, the beatings, the manipulation, the violence involved,” said Cook County Sheriff’s Dept. Vice Team Commander Mike Anton.

Investigators said that Katrina Zaia, 24, helped recruit the young women and girls, at least one of whom she met on a CTA train.

“In one case, we saw where a 13 year old girl was sold from one pimp to another for $100 and what we’ve noticed is gang members are loosely connected to each other and sell girls to each other,” Alvarez said.

The girls were drugged, threatened and beaten. Many were branded with tattoos, endured face slashings, and even forced in the trunks of cars for long periods as a form of punishment.

“In a few instances we actually have recorded instances of girls being beaten and abused which was difficult to investigate and listen to,” Anton said.

Some of the girls were forced to find customers by what the pimps called “walking the track” or finding johns on the streets but many were prostituted off ads from the internet using websites like Craigslist or Backpage.

According to police records, Zaia reserved hotel rooms for the girls and even took them to their sex appointments, all while gang members collected thousands of dollars.

“Cases like these are not easy for investigators,” said Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy. “When young girls are involved, it pulls at your heart strings. I think this represent something greater in our own society and what it’s about.”