Cozart, who referred to himself online as “Rico,” opened the room’s door to officers while the girl “was still putting a shirt on over her bra,” the complaint said. He denied being involved in prostitution, as did the girl. The girl also gave a bogus birthdate that would have made her an adult.
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While checking the girl’s warrant status, “her two phones rang multiple times,” and among the dozens of recent text messages were “terms that tended to be associated with prostitution,” the complaint said.
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He said he would not prosecute the girl. That decision is in accordance with his pledge, announced last February, to treat teenage prostitutes not as delinquents but as victims in need of services. The other county attorneys in the Twin Cities metro area also took part in that pledge.
