1ST OF ALL THERE ISN'T NOTHING WRONG WITH LIVING IN DALLAS. THEY SUBJECT SHOULD HAVE BEEN "BE BETTER PARENTS TO YOUR CHILDREN". I AM 21YRS OLD AND I'VE BEEN IN DALLAS FOR 21YRS. OVER THE TIME PARENTS ARE TO BUSY TRYING TO BE FRIENDS TO THEIR CHILDREN INSTEAD OF BEING PARENTS. WHEN I WAS YOUNGER ABOUT 7YRS OLD, I REMEMBER MY MOM TELLING ME "DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS". MY MOM WAS VERY STRICT ON HER CHILDREN. WE HAD CHORES AND WE KEPT GOOD GRADES IN SCHOOL. I WAS THE DAUGHTER THAT MOM THOUGHT WAS GOING TO HAVE SEX FIRST BECAUSE I USED TO WERE SKIMPY CLOTHING. I MADE STRAIGHT A'S IN SCHOOL AND I HAD A REAL BAD ATTITUDE. PARENTS THESE DAYS ARE TOO AFRAID OF THEIR CHILDREN. HOW DO A 12 YR OLD CHILD RUN AWAY LONG ENOUGH NOT TO BE ABLE TO FIND HER? APPARENTLY YOU WEREN'T LOOKING HARD ENOUGH. AND A RUN AWAY IS NOT GOING TO TELL ANYONE THAT THEY RAN AWAY FROM HOME, THEY'D BE TO SCARED SOMEONE WOULD TELL THE POLICE. HOW DID SHE KNOW SHE COULD TRUST ANYONE ENOUGH TO TELL THEM THAT SHE RAN AWAY? AND HER AGE DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING BECAUSE SHE LIED ABOUT IT AND SHE DOESN'T LOOK HER AGE. IF YOUR CHILD HAS THE BODY OF A 20YR OLD AND SHE IS 12, SHOULDN'T YOU BE PROTECTING HER AND NOT LETTING HER RUNAWAY??? NOW SHE PUT HERSELF OUT THERE YOU WANT TO TRY TO GET SOMEONE ELSE IN TROUBLE FOR THE MISTAKE YOUR DAUGHTER MADE? SHE RAN AWAY 4 TIMES, SO THE FIRST TIME SHE RAN AWAY YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE IT TO WHERE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO RUN AWAY AGAIN. NOW MY FRIEND IS DOING TIME BEHIND HER WANA BE GROWN ASS!! AND THE LIL GIRL EVEN TRIED TO BE WITH MY COUSIN AND MY COUSIN LOOKS YOUNG BUT HE IS 31 AND I'M PRETTY SURE THE "LIL GIRL" KNEW HE WAS WELL OVER HER AGE. HER PARENTS NEEDS AN ASS WHUPPIN AND SHE NEEDS AN ASS WHUPPING TOO. AND ONE MAIN THING, YOU CAN'T KIDNAP A RUNAWAY UNDERAGE OR LEGAL AGE. I DON'T KNOW HOW THE POLICE CHARGED HIM WITH ALL OF THESE CASES. AND IF DAVID BELL WAS CHARGED WITH SEXUAL PERFORMANCE AND HE DOESN'T EVEN WORK AT THE CLUB, WHY DIDN'T THE MANAGER GET CHARGED? IT'S HIS DUTY OVER ANYONE ELSE TO GET PROPER IDENTIFICATION VERIFIED AND COPIED AND PRINTED OUT. AND NO ONE KNOWS BUT THERE WAS A CASE FILED AGAINST DAVID BELL THAT WAS DROPPED, SO APPARENTLY THE GIRL LIED ABOUT SOMETHIN BECAUSE THE CHARGE THAT GOT DROPPED WAS A REAL BIG DEAL ASS CHARGE!!!! HMMMM IF THAT GOT DROPPED WHAT ELSE COULD BE A LIE? ALL OF IT!!! FREE DAVID BELL!!! I AM NOT WRITING THIS JUST BECAUSE DAVID BELL IS A FRIEND, IF HE'S WRONG I APOLOGIZE BUT IF HE IS PROVEN INNOCENT LIKE I KNOW HE IS, HE DESERVES AN APOLOGY NATIONWIDE BECAUSE OF THE TIME HE IS SPENDING BEHIND THIS NON DISCIPLINED CHILD OF PARENTS WHO CAN'T EVEN TAKE CARE OF THEIR CHILDREN!!! WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN SHE RUNS AWAY AGAIN? IT IS OBVIOUS SHE DOESN'T LIKE HER HOME... ANYBODY THAT READS THIS STORY WATCH OUT FOR A LIL GIRL, ID ANYBODY U DON'T KNOW!!!!
Lost Girl
How did a 12-year-old end up dancing in a Dallas strip club? And why is that establishment still open for business?
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She was only 12 years old, but she had the body of a woman eight years older. And at Diamonds Cabaret, an all-nude strip club in Dallas's sprawling red light district, patrons could see every inch of it. How this preteen runaway landed in the dregs of the adult entertainment industry last fall is a parent's worst nightmare, a story that vice cops hear all too often, and an example of a glaring legal shortcoming in Dallas, where Diamonds remains open for business.
After running away from home in the suburbs for at least the fourth time in a year, the sixth-grader needed a place to stay. David Bell, 22, and Demonica Abron, 28, a Diamonds Cabaret dancer whose stage name is "Jewels," allegedly told the child she could stay with them in Dallas—as long as she earned her keep. First Bell tried to make the girl work as a prostitute, according to police reports, but she refused. Instead Bell drove her to Diamonds, a BYOB strip club he frequented in a dilapidated office park next to a business that rents hot tubs by the hour.
The girl told the authorities that she lied about her age to a club manager and wasn't able to show proper identification. Police say the club's staff hired her anyway, after asking her to undress to prove that she wasn't too shy to dance nude for strangers. Diamonds Cabaret, where women perform vigorous routines on a stripper pole, features some of the raunchiest exotic dancing in Dallas. According to the account she gave the police, the girl lasted about a week and a half in November, working the stage amid flashing multicolored strobe lights and a pounding hip-hop soundtrack laced with obscene lyrics. She made as little as $100 a night, she told the authorities, and gave all her profits after paying the club fee to Bell and Abron, her "caretakers."
"You did good," Bell allegedly told the girl after one particularly lucrative shift, but, she says, he wanted more. Despite her protests, Bell drove her around Dallas forcing her to perform oral sex on him, she told the police. Back at the house, the girl says, she tried to escape, but Bell grabbed her hard by the arm and said she wasn't going anywhere. When he fell asleep she fled. Later her father brought her home, and the Dallas Police Department's High Risk Victims Unit, which helps runaways in danger of falling into the sex trade, intervened. In late February, Bell and Abron were indicted on charges of felony sexual performance of a child. Abron, who has since been released from jail on bond, was also charged with prostitution. Bell remains in jail in lieu of posting a $450,000 bond. He was also charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, kidnapping and engaging in organized criminal activity. Neither Bell nor Abron, nor their attorneys, could be reached for comment.
The case of the sixth-grade stripper, which broke in the Dallas media in March, outraged many, the girl's mother most of all, because it revealed a Texas-size loophole in the city code. Although Bell and Abron were charged under state and federal statutes, the city was unable to shutter Diamonds Cabaret or even suspend its business license, though they also found a 17-year-old stripper working at the club in January. City ordinances do not set a minimum age for dancers in adult cabarets, which are subject to fewer restrictions than escort services, which are also regulated by the city. That could soon change, but for now Diamonds is still open seven days a week. On a recent visit NEWSWEEK found baby-faced girls grinding against the stripper pole. No matter how youthful they may look, these women must be at least 18 years of age to legally work in a sexually oriented business under Texas law. When asked about news that they had employed a 12-year-old stripper, a manager at Diamonds shook his head and said, "This isn't the kind of publicity we want." Calls to club owners were not returned.
Dallas officials say it's almost unheard of for a strip club to employ a minor. But runaways are particularly vulnerable to the sex trade, says Lt. Christina Smith, commander of the Dallas police department's vice section. "Once a teenager gets out on the street they have no means of support," Smith says. "Then someone says, 'I'll help you. I'll take care of you'—men who offer them what they need." In the wake of the case, the city attorney is drafting new provisions that would make it easier for an adult cabaret to lose its business license if it employs minors. The revised statute should be presented to the city council for approval before the end of the month, says Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia. "We never expected to find a 12-year-old being abused in a club like this," she says. "Even if it was not common practice, I think that the city of Dallas has to have the power to shut down some of these clubs if this happens. We need to ensure that minors are safe in our city."
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