Unfortunately, ESN's are registered with each carrier. Sprint and Verizon like to ****block people into buying a new phone when they switch carriers. It happened to me with my Verizon Apache going to Sprint. I ended up having to get a Vogue because I couldn't swing the cash up front for a Titan.
There are a few companies that will let you bring in a phone from another carrier, just not Sprint or Verizon. Cheezy, IMO.