Trial Ordered for Couple in Daughter Pimping Case : Courts: 13-year-old girl told authorities her parents said she had to work the streets if she wanted to earn money, officer testifies at hearing.

A 13-year-old girl told police that her parents said she should work as a prostitute if she wanted to earn money for a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm, an officer testified Wednesday at a hearing for a couple charged with offering the child for prostitution.

Anaheim police Officer Brad Wagner testified that the girl, who was not arrested and is in protective custody, was told by her stepfather that “if she wanted to earn money, she could work the streets,” Wagner said.

“She said she got into it so she could go to Knott’s Berry Farm and to buy herself things,” he testified.

Wagner was among the vice officers who arrested Timothy McLaughlin, 27, and Katrina McLaughlin, 37, during a five-day police crackdown in the Beach Boulevard and West Lincoln Avenue area in August.

Katrina McLaughlin was arrested after she allegedly solicited sex from an undercover officer. After further investigation, police said she and her husband were also forcing their daughter to sell sex.

After the 90-minute preliminary hearing at Municipal Court in Fullerton, Judge Betty L. Elias decided there was sufficient evidence to order a trial. The couple is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on Oct. 25 on three counts each of making a child available for prostitution.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew Anderson said both defendants also are being charged with three counts of child molestation because they “aided and abetted” the men who paid to have sex with their daughter on three separate occasions.

Timothy McLaughlin also faces charges of pimping and pandering.

The teen-ager said during a police interview that her mother had instructed her to use condoms during each encounter, and told her to check identification to make sure she wasn’t with an undercover policeman. She was also given a small pocketknife to use for protection, Wagner said.

Anaheim police Officer Mike Patterson testified that Timothy McLaughlin had threatened to physically harm the teen-ager, her mother and another adult woman who lived with them if they refused to work as prostitutes. They were also instructed to give all of the money they earned to him.

Timothy McLaughlin, dressed in a yellow Orange County Jail jumpsuit, sat at the defense table weeping before the hearing began and frequently whispered to his attorney during the proceedings. Katrina McLaughlin, seated next to him, sat silently throughout the hearing.

Timothy McLaughlin faces 14 years in prison if convicted on all charges. Katrina McLaughlin faces 12 years if convicted on all charges.