12-year-old forced into prostitution

CHICAGO, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- A young woman nicknamed "Pooh" told a federal court in Chicago she became a prostitute at the age of 12 for a man she identified as Datqunn Sawyer.

Pooh, now 19, said Sawyer took her to his apartment where he lived with at least a half-dozen other girls and forced her to prostitute herself, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday.

She said she was given a quota by Sawyer, 32, who told her she had to have sex with five to 15 men every day.

Sawyer is charged with sex-trafficking minors and conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion.

Pooh was among a series of victims who testified in federal court that Sawyer wooed them with promises of love and a future but ended up forcing them into prostitution.

They said Sawyer, who didn't have a job, used a silver-studded leather belt or a heavy wooden stick to beat them.

One girl identified as Peaches said Sawyer split her head open with a glass ashtray when she was six-months pregnant.