Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading. Jamie Likewise, 28, says she turned to prostitution to feed her drug habit. She shows an injury from being beaten by her boyfriend. Jamie Likewise has scabs on her face, is strung out on drugs and willing to sell her body to anyone with some spare cash.
Hers is a difficult, dangerous life and the years of working the street and the drug use show on her face. She started getting high when she was 12 and was turning tricks when she was Added to that mix is a boyfriend who frequently beats her. Police Sgt. Glen Grundeis says there are a couple dozen that police regularly find on the streets. Police are cagey about revealing how many officers they have on the streets fighting prostitution. Officers and deputies will pose as johns or prostitutes to catch suspects.
Those numbers include both prostitutes and johns. Autumn Harrington has spent the past 10 years as a prostitute. Originally from Oklahoma, she now works along Union Avenue and a few streets in Oildale and spends her money getting high off meth. Her face is weathered and she looks far older than her 24 years.
The women talked briefly about why they began selling their bodies. There was one common factor to their stories โ drugs. After getting hooked on crack cocaine as a teen, Likewise started walking the streets and giving sexual favors in return for money to support her habit. She and Likewise both said they are convicted felons and finding a normal 9 to 5 job is just too hard.
Prostitution goes on from early in the morning to the dead of night. Their lifestyle constantly puts them at risk to violence. An hour after she was interviewed, Likewise was beaten by her boyfriend near where she was arrested and police quickly arrested him. The risk of disease is hardly even an afterthought to Likewise. All that matters is money for the next high.
