Shine Exclusive: Q&A with the hooker interventionist
Annie Lobert will tell you how much she could make in one night as a Las Vegas escort: $10,000. How long she survived in the industry: 16 years. How she escaped: in a trunk. And how she kept coming back. But she won't talk about certain requests from clients, especially the ones she agreed to. Several years ago, after what she calls a religious epiphany, she gave up the practice and formed an organization called Hookers 4 Jesus. It's the kind of name that gets attention, which is the point. Lobert began infiltrating casinos, strip clubs, and detention centers trying to convince prostitutes to get out of the business. With the help of a local church, she founded Destiny House, a six-month boarding home and rehabilitation center for women escaping the business. Now Lobert and her organization are the subject of a new Investigation Discovery series, "Hookers: Saved on the Strip". (Watch a Shine exclusive preview of tonight's episode above.) She talked to Shine about her new show and the life that led up to it.
You were introduced to prostitution during a vacation in Hawaii when businessmen propositioned you and a friend. And you were no stranger to escorting when you returned to Minnesota. But the Las Vegas world of escorting is another ballgame.
I just looked in the yellow pages and made a phone call to an escort service. I went with a girlfriend and we signed up together. But there are so many different ways people come to hooking. I knew a girl who was tricked into being a prostitute from one of her relatives. They told her she was going to have a good hostessing job if she moved to Las Vegas.
Instead many end up living in what you call "stables," where groups of women are over-lorded by a male pimp.
That's what they're called. Sometimes everyone lives together, sometimes they don't. Each girl has to pay her pimp or she gets a beat-down. It's a trauma bond you continually go back to because it's all you know.
Your first stable was with your boyfriend who moved with you to Vegas.
I met him at a strip club I was working at back home. He was kind to me and I fell in love with him. When we moved to Vegas together it changed. I went to work the very first night and when I got back, I got a beat down and he told me I work for him now. It sounds sick but I wanted to make him happy and I trusted in every penny I gave him. Then I saw other girls get hurt by him…I got hurt by him. When I tried to escape, I had to sneak out when he was sleeping in the middle of the night to the neighbors and ask them to hide me in the trunk of their car and drive me to my best friend's house. She helped me go to the hospital.
But you went back to him again.
I went back and the same thing happened.
Did you ever consider joining a legal brothel in another county?
No, I just never had a desire to. It's not always safer. One of my friends died in a brothel. She was shot by a client. She had no protection. Also, I didn't want to be in a line-up when they call you out for clients and you all have to lineup. It's like high school gym class. It's so embarrassing to not be picked first.
At Destiny House, you provide boarding and rehabilitation for six women for six-month periods. In a way it's a similar set up to a stable.
It is and it brings up a lot of issues. They have to learn how to have real relationships with other women and they end up having a lot of disagreements. They still think they're trying to off each other because that's how it is in a stable. It was so competitive. You were always trying to make more money than the other girls because it gives you kudos with your pimp. That causes dissention and physical violence. I've had girls pour bleach in shampoo because they're jealous of another girl. A lot of girls set me up telling our pimp I was working with someone else. And I'd get a beat down. That happens to a lot of bottom girls.
What's a bottom girl?
Bottom girls have been with the pimp the longest. They have final say, they train the other girls. Sometimes they collect the money when the pimp goes out of town. But she gets hurt the most because she's responsible for everyone. I was always the bottom girl.
It sort of reminds me of the show "Sister Wives" where four women are married to one man.
Yeah. In the pimping and pros world, we'd call each other 'wifies.' We all compete for love of our pimp. It's the same dynamic. I feel for those women on that show. Even though they say they're happy, it's not fun. You can't sleep at night, always competing for that love. That's why I love being married to my husband.
Your husband, Oz, is a guitarist in the Christian rock band Stryper. You met through a friend after you started your organization. But I imagine you had to work through a lot of issues together.
We had premarital counseling with a pastor at my church. Now we're doing really good.
He's actually in every episode of the series. How do the women in the house react to him?
The women love it - they love the example we set. It helps them feel they'll find a man.
But the bigger challenge for them is finding a job.
We have legal experts who consult with our girls. For Regina, one woman in the series who was 14 when she started, we had someone help get her juvenile records sealed. We help with job training and help the women make a creative resume.
How do you get creative about prostitution on your resume?
It sounds funny, but a lot of times we recommend they go into sales. Because if you come from this job, you've had to deal with all different types of clients and you've got good social skills. So you can talk about how you've got experience dealing with all types of clientele. Even hard labor is something the job translates to. Prostitutes are not afraid to work. They're not lazy. I tell them if you can sell your body to a man that disgusts you, you can do anything.
But I imagine strip clubs are an easier gig to land, and much more lucrative.
I tried to dissuade them from stripping because it led me back into sex. It's a throwaway. You will meet a pimp in the club somewhere who will exploit you.
But there's also a question of money. A lot of women get into the practice to support their kids.
They also get out because of it. I have a lady named Stephanie. She called me up one night and said 'I can't take it anymore, come get me.' She kept looking at her daughter and said she realized she didn't want her to become a prostitute. Now she has a job at a hotel and never went back.
Can women bring their kids to Destiny House?
The children can live in destiny house up to five years old. But after that, they're old enough to know too much about what goes on. We have to be careful. A child won't be in any meetings or counseling. What we're trying to do is prevent it from being a generational problem.
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