10-year sentence for man convicted of prostituting 2 minors in 2018 along notorious Houston street

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A man convicted of prostituting two minors along Bissonnet in 2018 was sentenced to 10 years behind bars, now five years later.

According to records, Johnny Parks was known to the girls as "Daddy," and he took them shopping, paid for hotel rooms, and would drop them along Bissonnet to prostitute themselves.

The girls were 14 and 15 and ran away from CPS care at the time. One of the girls said she would give Parks the money she made from prostitution so she could have a place to sleep and eat.

According to Assistant District Attorney James McKenney, in many of the cases involving minors, they will run away just to find themselves in an even worse situation.

SEE ALSO: HPD prostitution initiative sees drop in offense calls in that area since start: 'It's a ghost town'

"When a predator sees someone who is young, they try to take advantage of them, and that's what happened here," McKenney said. "These girls were runaways and taken advantage of."

Records reveal that an HPD officer found the girls inside a Burger King, where they were keeping warm while prostituting.

"Any child who is forced to work on Bissonnet is going to have a high volume of customers and each time, that's a crime, and it's horrific," McKenney said.

The street known as the Bissonnet Track is a notorious hot-spot for human trafficking. Officials have been trying to crack down on the area for years. It has gotten so bad that since May, HPD has been closing down the track at 10 p.m. each night.

"If you are having children sexually assaulted and make money, we will find you, prosecute you, and take you to jail," McKenney said.

SEE ALSO: Bissonnet Track targeted by new injunction to rid Houston streets of prostitution

However, the issue isn't disappearing. It simply may just be moving to other areas. Our ABC13 Neighborhood Safety Tracker shows an upward trend.

In 2022, there were 958 prostitution offenses, which included purchasing prostitution and assisting or promoting prostitution. So far this year, there have already been 945 offenses, and we are only in August.

In this case, McKenney says there is now justice for the girls who were found by an officer five years ago.

"Anytime something happens with a child, it's horrific, and in the best case, they can try to rebuild their lives," McKenney said.

The assistant district attorney says that because the girls were minors and taken advantage of, they were not charged.

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