According to Congressional estimates, every day in our country 100,000 children are being sold for sex. Enterprising pimps prey on young girls, and turn them into sex slaves.
But it was at a neighborhood Safeway store in northern California where the sex slave problem became a terrible reality for one family. In 2008 Vicki Zito's daughter was abducted there, then forced into unthinkable acts.
Vicki's daughter was a 17-year old high school senior at the time, but developmentally disabled. She had asked her mom if she could go down to the store with a friend.
"And so we said yeah, okay, go grab a soda," Vicki recalls. "How innocent is that? And it's the one decision that I'll regret for the rest of my life," Vicki says, tears welling up in her eyes.
Vicki's daughter was abducted by a man who sold her for sex by posting ads for 'erotic services' on the web site Craigslist. She was enslaved for seven days in motels around the Bay Area.
At home, Vicki prayed. "Once the sun went down it was unbearable," Vicki says, sobbing quietly. "I'm sorry, but it was. It was horrible. I would just stand at the window, watching, waiting, wanting so badly for her to come home."
After a week, Vicki got a late-night call from authorities. "They told me they'd found my daughter. And that she was alive. And in that brief moment of , 'Oh my god my daughter's alive, she's okay,' it was followed with 'But I'm sorry to tell you... Are you sitting down?'"
Authorities told Vicki that her daughter had been sold for sex, over and over again.
"It was more than I could bear," Vicki says. "That's when I learned about sex trafficking, what it was, and what it meant that my daughter had been enduring for the past seven days."
Ultimately her abductor, 25 year-old Rishi Sanwal, was arrested and convicted. He's serving a 12 year sentence for sex trafficking.
About Sanwal, Zito says, "I don't waste a lot of time on him. Do I believe in hell? Yes I believe in hell. Do I hope some day he burns in it? That's harsh but yes. Because he can do his time in prison, but he'll never be able to undo what he did to my daughter."
Vicki also has a few choice words for Craigslist, the web site that posted Sanwal's ads for 'erotic services.'
"Pull the plug. Now. Pull the plug," Zito says. "Do you have to have the erotic section of your web site to be profitable? Or in order to stay in business? Because if that's what it takes for you to stay in business? You shouldn't be in business."
Zito thinks some major changes need to be made regarding online postings. "It's absolutely unacceptable that you have a spot on your web site where somebody can go, and at the click of a button, buy another human being for sex."
The Zito family's story has come to the attention of California Against Slavery, a non-profit group actively lobbying to strengthen anti-sex slave laws in California. Its executive director Daphne Fung says the Zitos' family tragedy serves as a cautionary tale.
"The Zitos' story shows that no child is safe from human trafficking, that it can happen to any of us," Fung says. "Vicki is a caring mom, her daughter comes from a caring family, and it happened to them," Fung points out. "No child is safe from human trafficking."
And according to Fung, the problem is getting worse across the country. "Now, they're going down in age from 18, 16, 14, now we have girls started being recruited as prostitutes at the age of 11, 12 13."
As a result, today Vicki Zito is on a mission to speak out so that no other family will have to endure the horror that her family, and her daughter, have faced.
"The reason I speak out is that 95 percent of the girls that are victims of this crime, exactly like my daughter was, have no home, no mom, no family, nobody that's looking for them," Zito says.
"If just one other life is spared, if just one other life is able to heal and recover and move on from this, then all of my efforts will be worth it."
For more about the efforts of California Against Slavery to strengthen California's anti-human trafficking laws, and its signature-gathering petition efforts for a statewide ballot initiative, go to https://www.californiaagainstslavery.org/ (https://www.californiaagainstslavery.org/).
LenInSebastopol
05-15-2010, 07:05 AM
I appreciate the post and feel badly for any and all loved ones that suffer the pain of such.
I have to ask, what is the purpose of this?
It is a lobby and wants money. OK, but to what end?
I recall Caryl Chessman. He had raped over 12 women in L.A. in the 40's.
He was executed for those crimes. Rightly so. He became a cause' celebrity due to his "brilliance" writing books while on death row and his execution became a focal point for repealing the death penalty.
The 12 years the fellow received in this original post is as nothing.
The girl in this O.P will suffer for the rest of her life.
Again, I ask, what is the purpose of this post? Simply to raise money and "consciousness"?
sharingwisdom
05-15-2010, 11:23 PM
What about sign the initiative to start?
I appreciate the post and feel badly for any and all loved ones that suffer the pain of such.
I have to ask, what is the purpose of this?
It is a lobby and wants money. OK, but to what end?
I recall Caryl Chessman. He had raped over 12 women in L.A. in the 40's.
He was executed for those crimes. Rightly so. He became a cause' celebrity due to his "brilliance" writing books while on death row and his execution became a focal point for repealing the death penalty.
The 12 years the fellow received in this original post is as nothing.
The girl in this O.P will suffer for the rest of her life.
Again, I ask, what is the purpose of this post? Simply to raise money and "consciousness"?
Dark Shadows
05-16-2010, 05:30 AM
A man I used to live with told me he used to be sexually stimulated by his daughter's twelve year old girl friends. My daughter was eleven at the time. I went upstairs and vomitted. When I see this man around little girls it just makes me want to cry and at the same time I'm so angry I want to tell the parents that this guy is a pervert and you should not let your kids be alone with him. Of course everyone thinks he's Mr. Family Guy, and it just makes me sick to my stomach. He lives with his nine year old granddaughter and I want to do something, but I feel so helpless. What does one do in that situation? The kids in that family already have emotional problems. That family is really a mess. Glad I'm out of it, but I feel bad for the kids.
Sign statewide initiative below.
According to Congressional estimates, every day in our country 100,000 children are being sold for sex. Enterprising pimps prey on young girls, and turn them into sex slaves.
But it was at a neighborhood Safeway store in northern California where the sex slave problem became a terrible reality for one family. In 2008 Vicki Zito's daughter was abducted there, then forced into unthinkable acts.
Vicki's daughter was a 17-year old high school senior at the time, but developmentally disabled. She had asked her mom if she could go down to the store with a friend.
"And so we said yeah, okay, go grab a soda," Vicki recalls. "How innocent is that? And it's the one decision that I'll regret for the rest of my life," Vicki says, tears welling up in her eyes.
Vicki's daughter was abducted by a man who sold her for sex by posting ads for 'erotic services' on the web site Craigslist. She was enslaved for seven days in motels around the Bay Area.
At home, Vicki prayed. "Once the sun went down it was unbearable," Vicki says, sobbing quietly. "I'm sorry, but it was. It was horrible. I would just stand at the window, watching, waiting, wanting so badly for her to come home."
After a week, Vicki got a late-night call from authorities. "They told me they'd found my daughter. And that she was alive. And in that brief moment of , 'Oh my god my daughter's alive, she's okay,' it was followed with 'But I'm sorry to tell you... Are you sitting down?'"
Authorities told Vicki that her daughter had been sold for sex, over and over again.
"It was more than I could bear," Vicki says. "That's when I learned about sex trafficking, what it was, and what it meant that my daughter had been enduring for the past seven days."
Ultimately her abductor, 25 year-old Rishi Sanwal, was arrested and convicted. He's serving a 12 year sentence for sex trafficking.
About Sanwal, Zito says, "I don't waste a lot of time on him. Do I believe in hell? Yes I believe in hell. Do I hope some day he burns in it? That's harsh but yes. Because he can do his time in prison, but he'll never be able to undo what he did to my daughter."
Vicki also has a few choice words for Craigslist, the web site that posted Sanwal's ads for 'erotic services.'
"Pull the plug. Now. Pull the plug," Zito says. "Do you have to have the erotic section of your web site to be profitable? Or in order to stay in business? Because if that's what it takes for you to stay in business? You shouldn't be in business."
Zito thinks some major changes need to be made regarding online postings. "It's absolutely unacceptable that you have a spot on your web site where somebody can go, and at the click of a button, buy another human being for sex."
The Zito family's story has come to the attention of California Against Slavery, a non-profit group actively lobbying to strengthen anti-sex slave laws in California. Its executive director Daphne Fung says the Zitos' family tragedy serves as a cautionary tale.
"The Zitos' story shows that no child is safe from human trafficking, that it can happen to any of us," Fung says. "Vicki is a caring mom, her daughter comes from a caring family, and it happened to them," Fung points out. "No child is safe from human trafficking."
And according to Fung, the problem is getting worse across the country. "Now, they're going down in age from 18, 16, 14, now we have girls started being recruited as prostitutes at the age of 11, 12 13."
As a result, today Vicki Zito is on a mission to speak out so that no other family will have to endure the horror that her family, and her daughter, have faced.
"The reason I speak out is that 95 percent of the girls that are victims of this crime, exactly like my daughter was, have no home, no mom, no family, nobody that's looking for them," Zito says.
"If just one other life is spared, if just one other life is able to heal and recover and move on from this, then all of my efforts will be worth it."
For more about the efforts of California Against Slavery to strengthen California's anti-human trafficking laws, and its signature-gathering petition efforts for a statewide ballot initiative, go to https://www.californiaagainstslavery.org/ (https://www.californiaagainstslavery.org/).
LenInSebastopol
05-16-2010, 05:55 AM
I would consider sharing that experience that you had with some one at the below link. If you are connected to a faith community then consider talking to someone there about the below. Likewise if that family is connected to such, talk to them. Do NOT carry around that around with you, but communicate it to someone who is an advocate. An alternative to indirect intervention, as in the above, is to go to the Sexual Assault Unit, Child Division, of the Sheriff and talk with someone there, although they can really do nothing about it. You could tell a Hell's Angel, but they usually want something in return, and most don't want to pay that price.
Please, as difficult as it is, do not keep it to yourself.....folks are either in danger or near it.
California Parenting Institute (https://www.calparents.org/)
A man I used to live with told me he used to be sexually stimulated by his daughter's twelve year old girl friends. My daughter was eleven at the time. I went upstairs and vomitted. When I see this man around little girls it just makes me want to cry and at the same time I'm so angry I want to tell the parents that this guy is a pervert and you should not let your kids be alone with him. Of course everyone thinks he's Mr. Family Guy, and it just makes me sick to my stomach. He lives with his nine year old granddaughter and I want to do something, but I feel so helpless. What does one do in that situation? The kids in that family already have emotional problems. That family is really a mess. Glad I'm out of it, but I feel bad for the kids.
pbrinton
05-16-2010, 11:53 PM
This is outrageous. She reports that this man confessed to her that he was aroused by his daughter's twelve year old friends. Nobody has any control over what arouses them. I can no more stop myself being aroused by a woman I find sufficiently attractive than I can stop myself getting hot in the sun. What I do have control over is how I behave in response to that arousal. I do not happen to find the sight of immature girls arousing, but I have a great deal of sympathy for people who do. Pre-teen girls these days commonly use makeup. Have you ever considered the underlying purpose of makeup (I mean the traditional makeup, not the fetishized version that some girls wear)? Darkening the eyes, reddening the cheeks, reddening and enlarging the lips are all signs of sexual arousal in a woman. We are allowing our children to go around looking sexually aroused. Men are hard-wired to respond to these signs.
In addition very young girls these days are allowed to go around dressed like hookers with T-shirts that say things like "porn star" on them. Again, men are hard-wired to respond sexually to these kinds of things. They cannot help it, any more than you can stop your mouth watering when you are hungry and see food. Again I say, what they do have control over is how they act in response to these feelings, and fortunately most people have good impulse control. A small percentage do not, and that is when you have trouble. I do not excuse or condone people who act on these impulses, but I do understand some of the forces that are driving them. All I have to do is to observe my own reaction to my natural (and wholly legal and morally approved of) objects of attraction, which I did not at any time choose consciously to be attracted to, and imagine that I had the misfortune to be attracted (again without ever having made a conscious choice in the matter) to, for instance, pre-pubescent girls. I suggest applying the same mental exercise before making such wholesale condemnations.
Another point: anyone who has been to Harbin knows that it is fashionable for mature women to shave off their pubic hair, thus once again encouraging men to find a pre-pubescent look attractive.
Please do not accuse me of blaming the victim here. It is not the fault of the children. They are simply responding to manipulative advertising and cynical persuasion on the part of the media for commercial purposes. Our children are being sexualized and put in danger in order to sell them products. It is very hard in today's media-soaked world for parents to counter this sort of thing even if they are really aware of what is happening. It is easy to blame the sex-crazed pervert and pass yet another throw-away-the-key solution. What we should be doing instead is prosecuting the sellers and advertisers of these products for endangering our children.
Back to the case in point: this person had the courage to admit something that most people who felt that way would never admit for fear of exactly the kind of reaction described here. And for this you are encouraging the original writer to start spreading around the information that he is a danger to children without any evidence or even allegation that he has ever acted upon these feelings? If he had done so, or was likely to do so, would he even have talked about it?
Once this kind of whispering campaign gets underway, there is no stopping it, and it can ruin someone's life. if you have actual evidence that a crime has been committed, then go to the police or DA and present your evidence. On no account should you spread around unsubstantiated rumors of this kind.
Patrick Brinton
I would consider sharing that experience that you had with some one at the below link. If you are connected to a faith community then consider talking to someone there about the below. Likewise if that family is connected to such, talk to them. Do NOT carry around that around with you, but communicate it to someone who is an advocate. An alternative to indirect intervention, as in the above, is to go to the Sexual Assault Unit, Child Division, of the Sheriff and talk with someone there, although they can really do nothing about it. You could tell a Hell's Angel, but they usually want something in return, and most don't want to pay that price.
Please, as difficult as it is, do not keep it to yourself.....folks are either in danger or near it.
California Parenting Institute (https://www.calparents.org/)
sharingwisdom
05-17-2010, 12:07 AM
Yes, it's a very difficult situation when there is a pedophile in the midst of people you know. You might consider calling the Child Protective Services anonymously if you fear reprisal.
A man I used to live with told me he used to be sexually stimulated by his daughter's twelve year old girl friends. My daughter was eleven at the time. I went upstairs and vomitted. When I see this man around little girls it just makes me want to cry and at the same time I'm so angry I want to tell the parents that this guy is a pervert and you should not let your kids be alone with him. Of course everyone thinks he's Mr. Family Guy, and it just makes me sick to my stomach. He lives with his nine year old granddaughter and I want to do something, but I feel so helpless. What does one do in that situation? The kids in that family already have emotional problems. That family is really a mess. Glad I'm out of it, but I feel bad for the kids.
beehivedesign
05-17-2010, 08:28 AM
The same thing happened to a friend of mine's daughter who is also developmentally disabled. My friend is also active in spreading the word about the problem here, now, in Sonoma County and throughout the U.S. that is too often ignored and unheard of. If Vicki would like to contact me, I could put you in touch with my friend. I am sure you would have a lot to talk about.
Sign statewide initiative below.
According to Congressional estimates, every day in our country 100,000 children are being sold for sex. Enterprising pimps prey on young girls, and turn them into sex slaves.
But it was at a neighborhood Safeway store in northern California where the sex slave problem became a terrible reality for one family. In 2008 Vicki Zito's daughter was abducted there, then forced into unthinkable acts.
Vicki's daughter was a 17-year old high school senior at the time, but developmentally disabled. She had asked her mom if she could go down to the store with a friend.
"And so we said yeah, okay, go grab a soda," Vicki recalls. "How innocent is that? And it's the one decision that I'll regret for the rest of my life," Vicki says, tears welling up in her eyes.
Vicki's daughter was abducted by a man who sold her for sex by posting ads for 'erotic services' on the web site Craigslist. She was enslaved for seven days in motels around the Bay Area.
At home, Vicki prayed. "Once the sun went down it was unbearable," Vicki says, sobbing quietly. "I'm sorry, but it was. It was horrible. I would just stand at the window, watching, waiting, wanting so badly for her to come home."
After a week, Vicki got a late-night call from authorities. "They told me they'd found my daughter. And that she was alive. And in that brief moment of , 'Oh my god my daughter's alive, she's okay,' it was followed with 'But I'm sorry to tell you... Are you sitting down?'"
Authorities told Vicki that her daughter had been sold for sex, over and over again.
"It was more than I could bear," Vicki says. "That's when I learned about sex trafficking, what it was, and what it meant that my daughter had been enduring for the past seven days."
Ultimately her abductor, 25 year-old Rishi Sanwal, was arrested and convicted. He's serving a 12 year sentence for sex trafficking.
About Sanwal, Zito says, "I don't waste a lot of time on him. Do I believe in hell? Yes I believe in hell. Do I hope some day he burns in it? That's harsh but yes. Because he can do his time in prison, but he'll never be able to undo what he did to my daughter."
Vicki also has a few choice words for Craigslist, the web site that posted Sanwal's ads for 'erotic services.'
"Pull the plug. Now. Pull the plug," Zito says. "Do you have to have the erotic section of your web site to be profitable? Or in order to stay in business? Because if that's what it takes for you to stay in business? You shouldn't be in business."
Zito thinks some major changes need to be made regarding online postings. "It's absolutely unacceptable that you have a spot on your web site where somebody can go, and at the click of a button, buy another human being for sex."
The Zito family's story has come to the attention of California Against Slavery, a non-profit group actively lobbying to strengthen anti-sex slave laws in California. Its executive director Daphne Fung says the Zitos' family tragedy serves as a cautionary tale.
"The Zitos' story shows that no child is safe from human trafficking, that it can happen to any of us," Fung says. "Vicki is a caring mom, her daughter comes from a caring family, and it happened to them," Fung points out. "No child is safe from human trafficking."
And according to Fung, the problem is getting worse across the country. "Now, they're going down in age from 18, 16, 14, now we have girls started being recruited as prostitutes at the age of 11, 12 13."
As a result, today Vicki Zito is on a mission to speak out so that no other family will have to endure the horror that her family, and her daughter, have faced.
"The reason I speak out is that 95 percent of the girls that are victims of this crime, exactly like my daughter was, have no home, no mom, no family, nobody that's looking for them," Zito says.
"If just one other life is spared, if just one other life is able to heal and recover and move on from this, then all of my efforts will be worth it."
For more about the efforts of California Against Slavery to strengthen California's anti-human trafficking laws, and its signature-gathering petition efforts for a statewide ballot initiative, go to https://www.californiaagainstslavery.org/ (https://www.californiaagainstslavery.org/).
LenInSebastopol
05-17-2010, 08:29 AM
You make fine points here, however consider alternatives. What if his behavior is not as contained as you state below? And then it comes to light. I know I would feel terrible in such a situation, as most would.
It is a known issue that if a person verbalizes such notions then the next step is that much closer to the actions expressed. More so than if he said nothing and went about his biz. One turns away or towards the stimulus, be it food, drugs, sex or rock & roll, however in this case we agree it is much more destructive.
No, in spite of your excellent presentation, and the noted danger of creating a terrible situation with law enforcement I urge the woman to report it to professionals who have dealt in all aspects of the matter, including those that understand better the clear points you make in your retort. That is why I urge an NGO rather than CPS. Once the gov't becomes involved it is all down hill from there, for everybody. The woman needs to unburden this terrible secret to a professional, and steps considered to be taken to limit that guy's clearly stated urges in order to keep his motivations in check. One step would be to have a trained 3rd party interview all children around in a manner to determine if the fellow has crossed the line. A good interviewer will not even let the children know they've been interviewed for such nefarious acts.
This is outrageous. She reports that this man confessed to her that he was aroused by his daughter's twelve year old friends. Nobody has any control over what arouses them. I can no more stop myself being aroused by a woman I find sufficiently attractive than I can stop myself getting hot in the sun. What I do have control over is how I behave in response to that arousal. I do not happen to find the sight of immature girls arousing, but I have a great deal of sympathy for people who do. Pre-teen girls these days commonly use makeup. Have you ever considered the underlying purpose of makeup (I mean the traditional makeup, not the fetishized version that some girls wear)? Darkening the eyes, reddening the cheeks, reddening and enlarging the lips are all signs of sexual arousal in a woman. We are allowing our children to go around looking sexually aroused. Men are hard-wired to respond to these signs.
In addition very young girls these days are allowed to go around dressed like hookers with T-shirts that say things like "porn star" on them. Again, men are hard-wired to respond sexually to these kinds of things. They cannot help it, any more than you can stop your mouth watering when you are hungry and see food. Again I say, what they do have control over is how they act in response to these feelings, and fortunately most people have good impulse control. A small percentage do not, and that is when you have trouble. I do not excuse or condone people who act on these impulses, but I do understand some of the forces that are driving them. All I have to do is to observe my own reaction to my natural (and wholly legal and morally approved of) objects of attraction, which I did not at any time choose consciously to be attracted to, and imagine that I had the misfortune to be attracted (again without ever having made a conscious choice in the matter) to, for instance, pre-pubescent girls. I suggest applying the same mental exercise before making such wholesale condemnations.
Another point: anyone who has been to Harbin knows that it is fashionable for mature women to shave off their pubic hair, thus once again encouraging men to find a pre-pubescent look attractive.
Please do not accuse me of blaming the victim here. It is not the fault of the children. They are simply responding to manipulative advertising and cynical persuasion on the part of the media for commercial purposes. Our children are being sexualized and put in danger in order to sell them products. It is very hard in today's media-soaked world for parents to counter this sort of thing even if they are really aware of what is happening. It is easy to blame the sex-crazed pervert and pass yet another throw-away-the-key solution. What we should be doing instead is prosecuting the sellers and advertisers of these products for endangering our children.
Back to the case in point: this person had the courage to admit something that most people who felt that way would never admit for fear of exactly the kind of reaction described here. And for this you are encouraging the original writer to start spreading around the information that he is a danger to children without any evidence or even allegation that he has ever acted upon these feelings? If he had done so, or was likely to do so, would he even have talked about it?
Once this kind of whispering campaign gets underway, there is no stopping it, and it can ruin someone's life. if you have actual evidence that a crime has been committed, then go to the police or DA and present your evidence. On no account should you spread around unsubstantiated rumors of this kind.