LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas is a problem city for sex trafficking and child prostitution, according to a new report.

Shared Hope International identified more than 400 child prostitutes in a single month last year. Part of the problem is escort advertisements and the lack of programs to help take the prostitutes off the streets, they said.

"I was talking to him, I told him -- at the time -- I was 13," Tonya said. "He was fine with that. He threw me off."

Tonya got into the sex trafficking industry in Las Vegas when she was 12 years old, and according to the SHI report, the Valley is one of 17 cities where underage sex is for sale.

"It is not legal, but it is perceived as much," SHI representative Linda Smith said. "So people come expecting to buy."

The problem is the high-risk conditions surrounding the city, including easy access to alcohol and drugs, 24-hour gaming and the fact that "Johns" are not prosecuted as often, Smith said.

"It's common sense -- if there weren't buyers, there wouldn't be sellers," she said.

It's a cycle the girls are incapable of breaking because they are prosecuted more than the men who purchase sex, Smith said, and it's perpetuated because the pimps know it.

Experts who helped research the report say the only way to break such a cycle is by contacting local lawmakers and asking for stricter laws and making sure they are enforced.