Though prostitution has been a prevalent force in the United States (and abroad) for many years, the frequency of 15-year-old kids being busted for running an operation out of their mom’s house (thankfully) remains relatively low. An unidentified 15-year-old male (referred to in reports as "D.H.") is facing a variety of such charges in Spokane, Washington for his role in a lucrative prostitution ring after recorded phone conversations with his older brother ("T.H."), currently locked up in a juvenile detention center, revealed the complex inner workings of their makeshift business.
The investigation began back in February upon the arrest of the 17-year-old older brother, according to local news outlet KHQ. T.H. was reportedly involved in a shooting, a shooting local authorities say involved the threatening of witnesses to remain silent. Sensing something sinister afoot, police tapped the phone lines at Spokane County Juvenile Detention Center and were quickly alerted to the full extent of the brothers’ practice:
On recorded phone calls they heard T.H. telling D.H. how to run a prostitution ring, using, among others, the brothers' girlfriends as prostitutes. One of those girls, who was underage, has a child with T.H. Police say D.H. was using Backpage.com to advertise the girls, then would send them out to calls. According to court documents the brothers talked in code, saying things like "Make them think they're going to be reimbursed, even if they're not," and "Treat them right, that way they stay around, and make sure they do the calls."
Local authorities then found the underage girls on Backpage, set up meetings, and were quickly informed of the brothers’ "entire story." This sting reportedly resulted in the revelation that "a quarter of the money" went to the brothers’ mom so she could eventually bail out T.H. To place this firmly in perspective, the bail was set at $175,000, meaning the mother would need to net $17,500 in order to make bail. This, as simple math will inform you, means the two brothers were moving some unnervingly large amounts of money. Both brothers are facing a full slate of charges including exploiting a minor sexual purposes, promoting prostitution, promoting travel for the purpose of sex with minors, first degree robbery, and many more.
