STL family values

Like any good resident of Kansas City . . . I always look for details about how horrible life is in and around STL and then thank my lucky stars that I live here . . In this Show-Me State/I-70 series of misery . . . KC almost always comes out on the winning end.

Anyway, here's a horrible, frightening story that should make you feel better about your childhood even if you didn't get to spend it playing video games:

A child forced to work off a drug debt was essentially “bought and sold for crack cocaine,” according to U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway.

Darrill Gray, 51, of St. Louis pleaded guilty to a federal charge involving the prostitution of a juvenile.

According to statements made in court during Gray’s plea, another man, John Geiler, took a girl younger than 18 to Gray’s house in January. He told Gray the girl owed him money, and he wanted to leave her with Gray so she could work as a prostitute to pay off her debt.

Gray provided the girl with crack cocaine and engaged in a sex act with her while she lived with him.

Men visited Gray and would go into other parts of the house with the girl, presumably to have sex with her, according to a statement from the prosecutor’s office.

Gray ultimately let the girl leave with another person in exchange for the promise of crack cocaine.

My God . . . First of all the details are excruciating but also . . . I didn't know people were still smoking crack (???) To me that seems so . . . New Jack City . . . Unfortunately, I guess (just like all scary STL crime stories) some things never go out of style.