Justine Alex Reisdorf was arrested by the FBI last month and charged in U.S.
District Court with sex trafficking of minors, a federal offense. She was
released from custody June 15, but a federal judge revoked her bond six days
later for allegedly threatening a witness.
The case is the latest in the Twin Cities involving sex rings using the popular
Internet sitecraigslist.org to reach customers. Police in Minneapolis - like
their counterparts from Seattle to Boston - have targeted brothels and sex
workers who advertise on the site, which offers free postings and e-mail
exchanges.
But this time, the participants are minors.
Authorities said Reisdorf used the adult listings oncraigslist.org and the
telephone chat line "Live Links" to draw customers to the Hampton Inn in
Burnsville, where she worked. Her job made it possible "to obtain hotel rooms
for purposes of prostitution," according to an FBI affidavit.
In March, an Eagan detective and an FBI agent interviewed a high school student
from the Eagan area who said Reisdorf had posted pictures of her on
craigslist.org, advertising sex acts.
Other teens told police Reisdorf operated out of a Burnsville town house last
winter and was "actively recruiting minor children to engage in acts of
prostitution."
FBI Special Agent Paul McCabe and a spokeswoman for the Eagan Police Department
declined to comment Thursday in light of the ongoing case. It was unclear
whether the minors involved face charges.
The investigation began in December with a tip-off to Eagan police about
Reisdorf's sex ring and rumors the girls were minors, but a warranted search of
her Burnsville town house Dec. 19 turned up scant evidence. Reisdorf was in the
process of moving out, according to the affidavit.
Police served a subpoena on craigslist Inc. in April and traced the phone
number on an advertisement to a "Deja A. McDone" in Burnsville, believed to be
Reisdorf's alias. Another number was traced to her family residence in Eagan,
according to the affidavit.
One of hercraigslist.org ads used the term "roses" as an obvious stand-in for
dollars: "Hi Fellas. It's the party girls, ... 200 roses for 2 hours for one of
us ... 375 roses for 2 hours for 3 of us ... Kandy, Deja and Carmen ..."
Other postings advertised "Late Night Snow Bunny Special" and "Quit Clicking,
I'm The One You've Been Waiting For."
Authorities have debated whether teen prostitution is on the rise, spurred by
easy access to customers through anonymous Internet chat rooms, Web sites and
phone services.
The majority of juvenile prostitutes is still thought to be runaways, illegal
immigrants and children from poor urban areas. But an August 2003 Newsweek
exposé examined the increase of juvenile sex workers in suburbs.
The story focused on a Twin Cities girl from an affluent home who relished the
fast cash and picked up men at the Mall of America.
Joy Friedman, a program manager with Breaking Free, a nonprofit support center
for former sex workers in St. Paul, said the lifestyle takes a heavy toll on
teens, who quickly lose touch with normal relationships and are easily swept
into drug abuse.
"It's like a gang. You only associate with other girls who are being
prostituted," said Friedman, who entered the life of an exotic dancer at age
15. "Their mindset is, there's nothing wrong with this. ... If you do it long
enough, you start becoming the person you're pretending to be."
In May, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents partnered with local and
federal law enforcement to raid brothels across the metro, including
Minneapolis, West St. Paul and Richfield. Many of the women were from Central
America.
"We often find women being victimized by a criminal organization, and sometimes
that does involve bringing them into the country by force or under false
pretenses," said Tim Counts, ICE spokesman.
Reisdorf's federal defender, Kate Menendez, and a spokeswoman with the U.S.
attorney's office declined to comment Thursday.
On June 15, the day after her arrest, Reisdorf presented a $25,000 bond for her
release. Among the conditions of the bond was that she remain in a halfway
house and follow its rules.
After allegedly threatening a witness, she was arrested again June 19 and
ordered back into federal custody. She is being held at the Sherburne County
jail.
A general manager at the Hampton Inn referred all questions to a corporate
spokeswoman for the Hilton Hotels Corp., who did not return calls.
