In all the eye-opening testimony presented in a trial of a man accused of forcing a 17-year-old girl into prostitution, one stunning economic fact emerged:

The 21-year-old defendant was making more money than anyone else in the Portland courtroom: at times as much as $2,000 to $3,000 in a single day.

According to the testimony of the girl he prostituted, Gus Wayne Rouse Jr. was sending her out on 10 tricks a day, forcing her to turn over everything she made. Once, when she tried to hide some of the money in the bathroom vent of a motel room, he choked her and warned her if she did it again, she'd get worse.

The week-long trial exposed a rarely told story of an underage prostitute, the johns who flocked to her and the pimp who ruled so absolutely. It also shined a light on the seedy underbelly of the Internet, where call girls in every corner of the state -- Lake Oswego, Bend, Roseburg, Beaverton -- are pictured scantily clad or nude, blatantly offering sex acts for money.

The trial also featured a string of adults who exploited the 17-year-old, or turned a blind eye to what was really going on -- from the taxi driver who made $40 driving her to johns' homes, to the motel owners who didn't ask questions, to the emergency-room doctor who lived in a swank Pearl District condo and became her No. 1 client.

The case left the 12 jurors so shaken that they were reluctant to leave the courtroom before grilling the attorneys for answers.

The crime of compelling prostitution -- which is selling minors for sex or selling anyone for sex using force or intimidation -- is seldom charged across the state. It's time-consuming to investigate and tough to prosecute.

Cases rarely result in convictions because the victims are often unwilling to cooperate: They are in love with their pimps or deathly afraid of the consequences of testifying.

Prosecutors in Clackamas County can recall charging only a few cases in recent years. The Washington County District Attorney's Office has charged one case since 2009.

In Multnomah County -- J.R. Ujifusa, the deputy district attorney who primarily handles compelling-prostitution cases -- estimates he prosecuted half a dozen to a dozen such cases in 2011. Years can pass before one makes it to trial, with the victim taking the stand. Ujifusa said most pimps plead as soon as it becomes clear their victims won't back down.

The story of the 17-year-old came to light after her mother called 9-1-1 last April, pleading for someone to check on her daughter, who wouldn't come home for days at a time. Once alone with the officer, the teen cried as she confided: Her boyfriend had been selling her for sex.

Authorities responded by enveloping her in services, including counseling, and giving her encouragement. Then the girl disappeared for months, before calling police in September to say she was ready: She wanted out of prostitution. And to do that, she needed to send Rouse to prison.

Rouse, who was arrested 10 days later, told police that his accuser was an ex-girlfriend who was jealous he'd moved on. He denied being a pimp, and his defense was prepared to argue during trial that motel receipts proved nothing.

But Ujifusa, the prosecutor, called the girl to tell her story in more than seven hours of wrenching testimony. She thought she had been in love with Rouse. He'd seemed smitten with her, even tattooing an imprint of her lips on his neck. But the 21-year-old told her he needed money to buy diapers for one of his children. She'd need to have sex with men for cash.

Police say Rouse has four children.

He took her to the Motel Cabana on Northeast 82nd Avenue, the Palms Motel on Interstate Avenue and the Econo Lodge on Northeast Sandy Boulevard.

Ujifusa showed jurors the girls' Internet ads. Scantily clad, she's clearly identifiable in the photos. Some of the ads listed her phone number, others listed Rouse's number -- although he always had her talk to the johns, so they wouldn't know she had a pimp.

Police investigators say more than two dozen websites have filled the void left by Craigslist, which in 2010 eliminated its "adult services" section. One popular site not only posts ads, but ratings by johns -- much like consumers might critique a product on amazon.com.

Portland police Det. Maury Mudrick told jurors it's typical for a pimp to recruit multiple girls or women -- 90 percent of whom come from rough backgrounds. Many have been sexually abused. Many are runaways. They commonly call him "Daddy," and he calls each of them "Wifey." Mudrick said the pimp grooms them, persuading the girls that he is their boyfriend in the beginning.

"They believe they're going to get married ... someday," Mudrick said.

At some point, the pimp tells the victim "Hey baby, we're broke. If you really love me you'll do this for me," Mudrick said.

Mudrick said he's seen several girls compete to become the No. 1 "wifey."

The prosecutor played for the jury recorded phone calls that the 17-year-old girl made to Rouse after she started cooperating. When the girl told Rouse that she wanted to see him, Rouse told her she had to first bring him $5,000. When she texted a photo of herself holding $800 and said she had a customer waiting in Vancouver – he said he'd pick her up.

The prosecutor also called on the taxi driver, Cedric Armstrong, 32, who drove Rouse and the girl to customers' homes. Although Armstrong denied knowing the girl was a prostitute, he told police that when he saw all the money Rouse was taking in, he thought about posting a prostitution ad for his girlfriend so they could make big money, too.

And then, there was John Lindberg, an emergency doctor at Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital. Police found him through a receipt the girl had for a Mac Book laptop he'd given her. When confronted by police, the 63-year-old admitted he met the girl through another escort he'd found online. He testified he'd had sex with her for money several times.

Lindberg also said he thought she was 19, and that he wanted to help her get back on her feet. He said he'd given her $10,000 to $15,000 and a key to his one-bedroom, 1,400-square foot condo on Northwest Lovejoy Street, so she could use it if she needed a place to stay.

Lindberg cooperated with police and testified without cutting an immunity deal. The Multnomah County District Attorney's Office is reviewing whether it has enough evidence to pursue criminal charges against Lindberg.

Defense attorney Stuart Sugarman called only one witness.

Just before closing arguments were to begin last Tuesday, Sugarman told Ujifusa his client wanted to cut a deal. With his hands in his pants pockets, his head cocked to the side and his eyes cast down, Rouse pleaded no contest to three counts of compelling prostitution. As part of the agreement, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Leslie Roberts sentenced him to more than eight years in prison.

Jurors were called into the courtroom to learn that their service was no longer needed. However, they had many questions for the attorneys and the judge. They described the trial as shocking, disturbing and horrifying. No juror, however, was willing to be named in this story, for fear of repercussions.

One juror said he's now tuned to recognizing young women in distress. He said that just the previous night, he was at the grocery store when he saw a girl with two backpacks, and he wondered if she might be a victim of sex trafficking. His girlfriend approached her to ask her if she needed help, which she declined.

The juror also said he was put off by the use of the term "pimp" in pop culture.

"It's not even negative," he said. "It's glorified."

Another juror said she threw out a gag gift she'd received -- a pint glass emblazoned in gold with "pimp."

Another juror wondered if prosecutors were holding johns accountable, just like the pimps.

"Yes," said the prosecutor. "I'm a true believer that buyers run this economy."

Multnomah County has sent more than 50 men to "johns school" since launching a new diversion program last year to educate defendants about the ugly world they are supporting.

Jurors also wanted to know how websites could so openly sell sex.

"If one of these is taken down, another will pop up," said Ujifusa, the prosecutor. "... A lot of these web pages are based in Amsterdam or wherever, where (U.S.) law won't be able to touch them."

What's more, Ujifusa said, some of the websites provide "a great tool" for law enforcement searching for runaways because they feature identifiable photos of the girls.

And last, a juror wanted to know how the 17-year-old in this case is faring.

The prosecutor told them she has left behind the life of prostitution.

"She is looking forward to getting an education and a job," Ujifusa said, later. "It's healthy to see someone who did so much to her be held accountable. I think she's doing extremely well."