News
Mom Sells 15 Year Old Daughter For $3,000
Published: May 27, 2004 - 01:11 PM
May 27, 2004) ? A Monroe County grand jury is about to hear the story of a Rochester teenager who says her mother sold her for $3,000 to another family that forced her to do household chores and have sex with a 21-year-old man.
In statements included in court documents, the 15-year-old girl said her mother ordered her to live with the family every weekend for almost a year. Under threat of severe beatings, the girl said, she was made to clean up after the family and to live as one man?s bride. She described the man as the son and the brother of other family members.
In statements included in court documents, the 15-year-old girl said her mother ordered her to live with the family every weekend for almost a year. Under threat of severe beatings, the girl said, she was made to clean up after the family and to live as one man?s bride. She described the man as the son and the brother of other family members.
Bekim Lapjani, 21, of 156 Afton St. has been charged with first-degree rape.
The girl?s 33-year-old mother has been charged with felony coercion and two counts of felony second-degree assault. She?s also been charged with two counts of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child.
The girl?s 46-year-old father has been charged with a misdemeanor endangering charge and misdemeanor third-degree assault.
The Democrat and Chronicle is not naming the girl?s parents because doing so could identify an alleged rape victim. It is the newspaper?s policy not to name victims of alleged sexual crimes.
Authorities first heard the Rochester girl?s story after she and her siblings were removed from the home as a result of the girl reporting her mother?s alleged abusive behavior to a school nurse.
Once in a foster home, the girl told authorities about her life as a slave.
The girl said her experience with the other family began in May 2003, when her father said they were going to visit a family from their native country in eastern Europe.
?I do not know too many people from my country, so I was excited to go,? the girl wrote in a statement to Police Investigator Ron Reinstein.
At the house, though, the girl said a man raped her in an upstairs bedroom.
Moments later, the girl said her mother stormed into the room and demanded to know what happened. The girl said she was still bleeding when her mother took her home and beat her ?like it was my fault.?
The next weekend, the girl said her mother took her back to the house. When she arrived, the girl said, the mother of the man who had raped her ?welcomed me to the family.?
That night, she said, she was forced to sleep in the man?s bed, where she was raped again.
?I asked him why he was making me have sex with him and he told me he had to pay my mom $3,000 for me to be his bride.? The girl said she went home and asked her mother what the man had meant.
?She began to stutter,? the girl wrote. ?After that, every Friday after school she made me go to (the man?s family?s) house. I asked her why I had to go and she told me because I was his wife.?
At the house, the girl wrote, she had to cook, clean, wash the family?s clothes and make their beds. Her mother would pick her up on Sunday nights.
?If I did something they did not want me to do they would tell my mom and she would beat me up. My mom told me if I did not do everything they told me to do it would ruin her reputation.?
A phone call
The incident that finally brought the slavery allegations to authorities? attention began with a simple telephone call, from a classmate of the 15-year-old girl?s 12-year-old sister.
One evening in March, a boy from the 12-year-old girl?s school called to ask for help with his homework.
According to both girls, the mother became enraged that a boy had called without permission and began beating the 12-year-old with a studded belt. The next day, the 15-year-old reported the beating to her school nurse and the children were removed from the home. The girl said that is when the weekend visits to the other family?s house ended.
Both girls said such beatings were not unusual in their house.
?All of my brothers and sister are afraid of my parents,? the 15-year-old wrote. ?They have beaten us severely with belts and sticks and the thing you roll bread with.?
The 12-year-old girl provided a similar statement to police.
When asked about her sister?s trips to the other family?s house, the 12-year-old said she once heard her mother negotiating a price on the telephone.
??If you pay me I will let my daughter come to you,?? the girl wrote, quoting her mother. ?She also said she would sell her for $3,000 to $4,000. She kept talking about my sister and how she would own her.?
The 12-year-old said she heard her sister tell her mother that a man in the house had raped her. On weekends, the 15-year-old would call on the telephone and beg to come home.
?My mother told her that was where she belonged and that (the man) was her husband forever and if she left him she would die,? she wrote.
?My sister kept telling her that she was not going to be forced to do this and was going to tell someone. My mom beat her even more.?
Lapjani and the woman have been released from jail on bail. The father has been released under provisions set by the county?s pre-trial release program.
Stunning revelations
Assistant District Attorney Douglas Randall, chief of the domestic violence bureau, is prosecuting both felony cases and said they should be presented to a grand jury by the end of June.
?I have never prosecuted a case with these allegations before,? Randall said.
According to the girl?s statement, Lapjani?s family is from Albania. The Democrat and Chronicle reported last year that the family members are refugees from Kosovo, a Serbian province bordering Albania and home to many ethnic Albanians.
A boy who answered the door at Lapjani?s house referred telephone calls to David Gerhardt, pastor of Trinity Emanuel Lutheran Church in Gates, whom the boy identified as the family?s sponsor. He said neither Lapjani nor his mother spoke English.
Gerhardt did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
A woman and man who answered the door at the house of the 15-year-old girl?s mother declined to comment, citing an inability to speak English.
The girl?s 33-year-old mother has been charged with felony coercion and two counts of felony second-degree assault. She?s also been charged with two counts of misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child.
The girl?s 46-year-old father has been charged with a misdemeanor endangering charge and misdemeanor third-degree assault.
The Democrat and Chronicle is not naming the girl?s parents because doing so could identify an alleged rape victim. It is the newspaper?s policy not to name victims of alleged sexual crimes.
Authorities first heard the Rochester girl?s story after she and her siblings were removed from the home as a result of the girl reporting her mother?s alleged abusive behavior to a school nurse.
Once in a foster home, the girl told authorities about her life as a slave.
The girl said her experience with the other family began in May 2003, when her father said they were going to visit a family from their native country in eastern Europe.
?I do not know too many people from my country, so I was excited to go,? the girl wrote in a statement to Police Investigator Ron Reinstein.
At the house, though, the girl said a man raped her in an upstairs bedroom.
Moments later, the girl said her mother stormed into the room and demanded to know what happened. The girl said she was still bleeding when her mother took her home and beat her ?like it was my fault.?
The next weekend, the girl said her mother took her back to the house. When she arrived, the girl said, the mother of the man who had raped her ?welcomed me to the family.?
That night, she said, she was forced to sleep in the man?s bed, where she was raped again.
?I asked him why he was making me have sex with him and he told me he had to pay my mom $3,000 for me to be his bride.? The girl said she went home and asked her mother what the man had meant.
?She began to stutter,? the girl wrote. ?After that, every Friday after school she made me go to (the man?s family?s) house. I asked her why I had to go and she told me because I was his wife.?
At the house, the girl wrote, she had to cook, clean, wash the family?s clothes and make their beds. Her mother would pick her up on Sunday nights.
?If I did something they did not want me to do they would tell my mom and she would beat me up. My mom told me if I did not do everything they told me to do it would ruin her reputation.?
A phone call
The incident that finally brought the slavery allegations to authorities? attention began with a simple telephone call, from a classmate of the 15-year-old girl?s 12-year-old sister.
One evening in March, a boy from the 12-year-old girl?s school called to ask for help with his homework.
According to both girls, the mother became enraged that a boy had called without permission and began beating the 12-year-old with a studded belt. The next day, the 15-year-old reported the beating to her school nurse and the children were removed from the home. The girl said that is when the weekend visits to the other family?s house ended.
Both girls said such beatings were not unusual in their house.
?All of my brothers and sister are afraid of my parents,? the 15-year-old wrote. ?They have beaten us severely with belts and sticks and the thing you roll bread with.?
The 12-year-old girl provided a similar statement to police.
When asked about her sister?s trips to the other family?s house, the 12-year-old said she once heard her mother negotiating a price on the telephone.
??If you pay me I will let my daughter come to you,?? the girl wrote, quoting her mother. ?She also said she would sell her for $3,000 to $4,000. She kept talking about my sister and how she would own her.?
The 12-year-old said she heard her sister tell her mother that a man in the house had raped her. On weekends, the 15-year-old would call on the telephone and beg to come home.
?My mother told her that was where she belonged and that (the man) was her husband forever and if she left him she would die,? she wrote.
?My sister kept telling her that she was not going to be forced to do this and was going to tell someone. My mom beat her even more.?
Lapjani and the woman have been released from jail on bail. The father has been released under provisions set by the county?s pre-trial release program.
Stunning revelations
Assistant District Attorney Douglas Randall, chief of the domestic violence bureau, is prosecuting both felony cases and said they should be presented to a grand jury by the end of June.
?I have never prosecuted a case with these allegations before,? Randall said.
According to the girl?s statement, Lapjani?s family is from Albania. The Democrat and Chronicle reported last year that the family members are refugees from Kosovo, a Serbian province bordering Albania and home to many ethnic Albanians.
A boy who answered the door at Lapjani?s house referred telephone calls to David Gerhardt, pastor of Trinity Emanuel Lutheran Church in Gates, whom the boy identified as the family?s sponsor. He said neither Lapjani nor his mother spoke English.
Gerhardt did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
A woman and man who answered the door at the house of the 15-year-old girl?s mother declined to comment, citing an inability to speak English.
