Sharon Richard of Toledo, Ohio, was kidnapped and forced into prostitution. But what happens when the cheers die down and the harsh reality of starting over after a life filled with terror begins?
Sharon Richard of Toledo, Ohio, just 90 miles from Cleveland, knows too well the burden of living through sex abuse in horrendous captivity and then struggling with the after-effects. Today, Sharon is 23, and she is a sex trafficking survivor.
Both Sharon and her first cousin were kidnapped as young teenagers and forced into prostitution for nearly two weeks before they were rescued. They first talked to ABC News about their ordeal in At the time, they were still teenagers so ABC News changed their names and disguised them in wigs for their own protection during the interview. The girls said their nightmare started innocently enough with walking to a Wendy's located on a corner near their home. Sitting in the passenger seat was a man Sharon said she thought was the father of one of her classmates.
At the wheel was an attractive woman she didn't recognize, but thought looked harmless. The two offered the girls a ride to the Wendy's. All of a sudden, all those warnings they had heard so many times were ignored and they got in the car. After they got in the car, the couple drove past the Wendy's, saying they wanted to get Chinese food instead.
But there would be no Chinese food. The cousins were taken against their will to a house in Toledo and held prisoner. Once inside the house, the terrified girls said they were separated by two women who called themselves Envy and Kashmir. She was just like, 'yeah, you know, you have to sleep with men for money. It was the first of many nights of terror. The cousins were forced into a world where sex was bought and sold. The day after they were kidnapped, Sharon said she, her cousin and the two women went to a hotel, where a male stranger got to pick which one he wanted to have perform oral sex on him.
