Missing Teen Found, Arrested In Prostitution Sting
OAKLAND (KDKA) – Investigators say a 14-year-old girl who had been missing for almost one year has been taken into custody along with two adults in a prostitution sting.
City detectives had been looking for the teenager since March of 2011 when she was reported missing from a Three Rivers Youth juvenile facility.
Police said when they found her; she was working as a prostitute.
The three were arrested after detectives set up a meeting at the Quality Inn in Oakland.
Last month, authorities say detectives received a tip that provocative pictures of the girl had been posted online. Detectives found an advertisement page with a phone number on the Internet.
According to the criminal complaint, an undercover officer called the juvenile who agreed to a one-hour appointment with a second female. When the officer got a room at the Quality Inn, investigators say the juvenile, 22-year-old Danielle Gianoni of Homewood and 36-year-old William Miller showed up.
Dr. Mary Burke, of Carlow University, explains how a teenage runaway can get caught up in prostitution.
"So, you have someone who is out there who is a perpetrator, who wants to make money and who wants to exploit someone's vulnerability; and this person, be it a man or a woman, will lure this child into a situation such as this young woman has been involved in," Dr. Burke said.
The three were arrested on a variety of prostitution-related charges.
Miller is facing counts of sexual abuse of children and transporting someone for prostitution.
The juvenile was taken to Shuman Center. Miller and Gianoni were being held in the Allegheny County Jail.
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