Police: 13-year-old held against her will, sold for sex

PHILADELPHIA - Police say the suspects held a 13-year-old girl against her will in a North Philadelphia neighborhood and sold her for sex to more than a dozen men over a two day period. They're the latest suspects charged in the city's crackdown on sex trafficking.

According to police, Fantasia Gale and the others lured the teenager in with promises of a better life, but within hours she was being offered up to paying customers through an online advertisement.  

Police say she was driven from house-to-house in two cars now at the police impound lot.

Investigators from Philadelphia's sex trafficking task force say the teenage victim finally slipped away from her alleged captors and took a bus to Temple Hospital's emergency room.

Within minutes, the task force was notified.  A day later police hit a house on North 8th Street and one on North  20th Street. They arrested Gale and two others.

A fourth suspect was busted overnight. Police say Angelo Romero, 22, is still on the run.

The task force has already investigated over 100 cases since last July. They say this is the typical urban sex trafficking ring. Police have broken up similar operations in  West Philadelphia and other areas.

Like this case, the victims can be as young as 13. These suspects face charges like trafficking, conspiracy, rape and sexual assault.