Couple repeatedly trafficked teen to old man for $20: cops

In South Carolina, a mother and father were arrested and accused of repeatedly selling their 14-year-old daughter to a man in his 60s for just $20. James Paul Wilson and April Renee Lawrence were both arrested last month and now face a felony charge of human trafficking, authorities said.

“I think there was a concerted effort on the part of these parents to find people who would give them money, and basically their children were the currency,” said Detective Will Freestate of the sheriff's office of Anderson County in a video on Facebook.

According to the sheriff's office, the investigation into Wilson and Lawrence began in early April and investigators quickly made some frightening discoveries. Authorities say the parents forced their daughter to cross county lines at every request made by the older man, 67, whose name has not been released.

“These two parents would bring this little girl to this address in Greenville County, just over the county line, every time this guy asked,” Freestate said.

Investigators said the 14-year-old victim and the man she was allegedly trafficked with knew each other because the 14-year-old girl was dating the man's son.

Freestate said Wilson and Lawrence would drive their daughter to the man's house where the man was on at least one occasion on a dirt bike with his son – the victim's 14-year-old daughter. Freestate said the man “would take his son off the dirt bike and tell him to get in.”