Calls of Runaways Seeking Help in N.Y. Went to Pimp

Runaways trying to phone a Times Square shelter probably found themselves talking to a pimp who had rerouted the calls to him at a bus station as a way to recruit young prostitutes, shelter officials said today.

“We have no way of knowing how many kids called that number and got picked up” in the three weeks before the scam was detected, said the Rev. Bruce Ritter, director of Covenant House, which puts up about 200 young people each night.

Ritter and his aides said a pimp apparently called a runaway hot line, identified himself as a Covenant House official and said the shelter’s phone number had been changed. He gave the hot line the number of a pay phone at the Port Authority bus terminal, then waited for calls.

The shelter learned of the problem one week ago, when an airline clerk at LaGuardia Airport called Covenant House to ask when they were going to pick up a runaway girl who had called the shelter hours before.

Shelter officials had no record of the girl’s call and began checking. When they discovered the hot line was giving out a different number, they called that number, posing as runaways.

“The person answered, ‘Covenant House,”’ said Anne Donahue, a counselor at the shelter. “(He) said, ‘I’m going to put you on with the director.’ And then a second person came on and made the arrangements to meet her.”

“The kid would say ‘I’m scared and lonely,’ and he’d say, ‘Don’t worry, ‘I’ll come and pick you up,’ ” Ritter aide John Kells said.

Port Authority police tapped the phone and held a three-day stakeout but caught no one.