Mother charged with prostituting child

? A Wichita woman is accused of letting a man pay to have sex with her 5-year-old daughter so the mom could have money to buy alcohol and cigarettes.

Prosecutors say the woman did the same thing with her two other daughters, but their testimony won’t be allowed as evidence at the woman’s trial.

The 48-year-old woman is not being named to protect the identity of her daughters.

Officials say 51-year-old Reggie Stafford, whom the woman had known for years, paid her to have sex acts with the 5-year-old, who is now 7.

Stafford and the mother both are charged with multiple counts of rape, sodomy and aggravated indecent liberties with a child. The mother also is charged with aggravated child endangerment.

The young victim testified that her mother took her to see Stafford several times, and that he had performed various sex acts with her in return for $6 or $7, which her mom used for booze and smokes.

On Friday, Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston asked a judge for permission to introduce testimony from the girl’s two older sisters, both now adults, who have said their mother sold them for sex when they were between the ages of 8 and 14.

Sedgwick County District Judge Greg Waller ruled that testimony about the sisters’ claims won’t be allowed at trial.

“This is a weird case,” prosecutor Christine Ladner told Waller during a hearing on Thursday.

“The sad facts are that (the mother) was the supplier of sex acts by her daughter to the defendant Stafford,” Ladner said.

During a pretrial hearing on Friday, the adult daughters told Waller they didn’t want to testify against their mom. One of the women, now 23, denied having sex with Stafford, though a social worker said the woman reported two years ago that she started having sex with the man when she was 9.

“I can’t testify against my mother,” the woman said through tears in court on Friday. “I can’t do it. I’m not doing it.”

Her 25-year-old sister said she came forward when she found out what was happening with her 5-year-old sibling.

“I wanted to get it off my chest so I could go on with my life,” said the woman, who also said she was reluctant to testify against her mother.

She said she was 11 when her mom started taking her to see Stafford, and that she remembers hearing Stafford ask her mother when she would bring over the other daughter.

“There’s not a shred of evidence, just words coming out of her mouth,” defense attorney Brad Sylvester said, adding that allowing the women’s testimony would unfairly prejudice a jury.

The mother has claimed that she has a drinking problem but she never allowed her daughter to have sex with Stafford.

Stafford denies having sex with any of the girls when they were underage, though police say he told them he had sex with the middle sister after her 18th birthday.