Running head: PEOPLE FOR SALE 1

People for Sale: The Sex Trafficking Industry in Businesses

Grace E. Hobbs

Legal Studies Academy

First Colonial High School

PEOPLE FOR SALE 2

Abstract

This paper summarizes the research about sex trafficking in businesses. The author begins by

explaining what sex trafficking is and how it is affecting Virginia. The author tells a story from a

victim’s perspective of sex trafficking. This paper focuses on the emphasis of laws put into place

all over the country, focusing on Texas and California, as well as out of the country, specifically

in the Netherlands. The author writes about the two main venues used to enable sex trafficking:

illicit massage parlors and hotel/motel businesses. Finally, the author provides real life examples

of sex trafficking in court cases.

PEOPLE FOR SALE 3

People for Sale: The Sex Trafficking Industry in Businesses

Every human on Earth is entitled to their basic human rights. Some of these rights include

the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, freedom from torture and degrading

treatment, the right to privacy, and more. Now imagine having those rights stripped in a matter

of seconds. That is what happens when someone is brought into sex trafficking. According to the

National Human Trafficking Hotline, sex trafficking is defined as “a form of modern-day slavery

in which individuals perform commerical sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.”

Legislation was passed in 2000 to fight sex trafficking (Wells, 2019); however, the awareness

that is being spread through the legislation is failing due to businesses enabling sex trafficking in

their establishments.

Background Knowledge

Sex trafficking is prevelant in every state, including Virginia. This section focuses on

statistics in Virginia, as well as first hand accounts from victims of sex trafficking.

Statistics on Sex Trafficking

In 2019, there were 189 confirmed human trafficking cases in Virginia. Within those

cases, 132 of those were sex trafficking cases. When looking into where these illegal acts took

place, 37 out of the 132 sex trafficking cases took place in an illicit massage parlor/spa business.

This type of business is the most used venue when it comes to hiding victims of sex trafficking.

Beyond massage parlors, hotel/motel-based businesses made up for seventeen out of the 132 sex

trafficking cases (Virginia Statistics, 2019).

Interviews with Charlotte Miller and Ria Story

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In an interview with Charlotte Miller, a spokesman at The Butterfly House, she spoke

about how men who traffic women are not only using them for sex, but using them for abuse.

She also talked about a business that she recently helped to bust for sex trafficking in Virginia

Beach. She said that she had noticed a symbol on the front of the establishment that looked like a

mafia symbol that was known for sex trafficking in Virginia Beach. She continued to give tips to

the police about this business, which led them to conduct a raid (C. Miller, personal

communication, September 21, 2020). The spa was called Relaxation Station located in the

Kempsville area of Virginia Beach. This spa was being used to offer commercial sex through the

trafficking of the victims rather than legal massages. Four people working at the spa were found

to be enabiling sex trafficking in their business and were all arrested (Patterson, 2019).

In another interview with Ria Story, a survivor of sex trafficking, she talked about being

sexually abused and sold by her father to other men of his choosing. She never attended school

because of this. Story was forced to go to different hotels, amusement parks, and individual

homes to perform sexual acts. She described different red flags that could be taught to employees

in order for them to better understand what a victim looks like. She said for herself, she had no

self-confidence, was unsure of herself, wouldn’t let people look her in the eyes, and tried not to

show herself (R. Story, personal communication, October 6, 2020). Ria Story is dedicated to

empowering women to be able to speak out about this awful crime. Businesses can use her story

to train employees to make the establishment a safer place for everyone.

The Red Flags of Sex Trafficking

In a Ted Talk by Kaylan Runyan, she talks about women and how they are tricked into

sex trafficking using the internet and boyfriends. Boys use the internet to find dates, start dating
PEOPLE FOR SALE 5

women, shower love all over them, and then won’t let them break-up with them. These women

are too far in emotionally and mentally that it makes it feel impossible to escape. Other red flags

she brought up were truancy, having luxury items, tattoos/brandings, multiple phones,

unexplained injuries, and isolation (Runyan, 2018).

Black Letter

This section focuses on the laws that are in place to fight sex trafficking in the United

States, including Virginia.

Federal Laws

In the past couple years, the federal goverment has passed bills related to fighting human

trafficking. For example, the House Bill H.R 507- “Should the Federal Gov’t Study Human

Trafficking?” was passed on February 7th, 2019. If this bill is passed in the Senate, people who

are in favor of the bill believe that the government could better understand why human

trafficking happens, leading to regulations that help prevent human trafficking from happening

(Causes, 2018). Another bill that emphasizes the research of human trafficking in the federal

government is S. 3319- 116th Congress- Human Trafficking Research Act of 2020. This bill was

introduced to the Senate back in February of 2020 and is still in the works. This bill gives law

enforcement the ability to look at all cases of human trafficking. They would get to see the

specific facts of the cases, including victims and their makeup (characteristics, gender, ethnicity).

This would help law enforcement to get a better understanding of victims and identify potential

next targets (Hawley, 2020).

Virginia Laws
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Virginia has passed many laws aiming at raising awareness for victims and citizens

around the state about human trafficking. The first law is §40.1-11.3: Human Trafficking

Hotline; posted notice required; civil penalty, which is the biggest law that is in place in Virginia

relating to awareness for businesses to identify human trafficking. There are two parts to this

law. Part A requires business owners that operate an establishment where people are topless or

stripping to post the National Human Trafficking Hotline to let people know there is assistance if

needed. Part B requires business owners that operate truck stops to post the National Human

Trafficking Hotline as well. Both have different penalties and fines if they fail to follow the law

(Human Trafficking, n.d.). According to §63.2-214.3: Information on human trafficking, this law

also deals with bringing about awareness of human trafficking to the public. This law requires

experts on human trafficking to provide training and resources for the Board of Education in

each city in order for all employees to be aware of red flags and how to respond to the situation

(Information on Human, n.d.). Virginia has also worked on putting laws in place for locations

that are popular hubs for sex trafficking, but aren’t always regulated enough. §33.2-267.1:

Human trafficking hotline; posted notice required deals with Interstate highway systems. At each

rest stop along these highways, it is required to post the National Human Trafficking Hotline in

order to let people know that there is help avaliable if needed (Human Trafficking, n.d.). Virginia

also detailed in their laws what human trafficking is and what it takes to qualify as that in court.

Finally, in §18.2-355: Taking, detaining, etc., person for prostitution, etc., or consenting thereto;

human trafficking, this law deals with the specifics of human trafficking and what charges come

with breaking the law. This law includes, “purposes of prostitution or sexual intercorse against

their will, takes a person against their will to then force them to marry him or her, whoever takes
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place of a parent or guardian to then detain them for prostitution or sexual intercorse, taking a

minor to a bawdy place for such purposes is guilty of pandering.” If any of these violations are

committed, the defendant may be charged with either a Class 3 or Class 4 Felony (Taking,

Detaining, n.d.).

Comparative Law in the United States

Virginia is not the only state with sex trafficking. In this section, it gives statistics and

laws regarding the two biggest hubs in the United States for sex trafficking: Texas and

California.

Texas

Texas was the second biggest state in human trafficking cases in 2019. There were 1,080

human trafficking cases with 805 of them being sex trafficking cases. The two biggest venues

that were used in Texas were illicit spa businesses and hotels. There were 174 cases in spas and

65 in hotels (Texas Statistics, 2019). Texas has just recently put in a law, the SB 72, that is

focused on long-term prevention. “Relating to the establishment and duties of the human

trafficking prevention coordinating council” requires the Attorney General to present and

implemet a five year plan that focuses on preventing human trafficking. This plan has to be

renewed every five years in order to adapt to changes in cases. The state of Texas also realizes

that victims of human trafficking have to go through transportation hubs in order to reach these

venues like spas and hotels. After being signed by the Governor on September 1st, 2019, SB

1219 required the Attorney General to design a sign that would be put up in transportation hubs

in September 2020. These hubs include: bus/bus stops, train/train stations, rest areas, and

airports. These signs will help victims find the help they need when taken to these areas. Other
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laws that have been put into place in Texas are in regards to school employees. HB 111,

“Relating to public school policy and training for public school employees addressing the

prevention of sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and other maltreatment of certain children”, states

that each employee of the school divison would have to go through a series of training in order to

spot and prevent sexual abuse and sex trafficking amongst minors (Texas Criminal Justice

Coalition, 2019).

California

California had the most sex trafficking cases reported in 2019. Out of their 1,507 human

trafficking cases reported, 1,118 cases were sex trafficking cases. The same two venues for sex

trafficking in Virginia and Texas were also used in California. 211 cases were reported in illicit

massage parlors and 93 cases were reported in hotels/motels (National Human Trafficking

Hotline, 2019). Because of sex trafficking being so prevalant in California, both the House and

Senate in the state are working hard to implement new laws that fight against this crime. The

Senate Bill 970 is focused on fighting the businesses that allow for sex trafficking to occur.

Enacted on September 27th, 2018, this bill requires employers of hotels/motels to have at least

twenty minutes of training on human trafficking signs and prevention (Senate Bill, n.d.).

California is also aiming to build up the victims of human trafficking and help their transition

back into society. With the Assembly Bill 629, enacted on October 8th, 2018, the California

Victim Compensation Board will be required to provide compensation for the amount of income

that victims lost while being trafficked. There are some limits, as they cannot exceed the value of

a 40 hour week of pay for the victim (Assembly Bill, n.d.). Other bills have been thrown around

that dicuss minors and prostitution. According to the Senate Bill 1322, this would eliminate
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prostitution charges against minors. They enacted this bill on September 26th, 2016 in hopes that

it would allow for law enforcement to take custody of these victims and use them to help more

people in the sex trafficking ring (Becerra, 2019).

Venues for Sex Trafficking

Different businesses are used as venues for hosting sex trafficking. The two most used

venues are illicit massage parlors and hotels/motels. This section focuses on these businesses all

around the world and how they enable sex trafficking.

Hotels in Europe

Human trafficking is becoming one of the fastest growing organized crimes in the world,

especially in the Netherlands. The police in the Netherlands are trying to figure out why this is

one of the fastest growing crimes, yet it is so hard to identify in public. They found that

traffickers are using hotels to disguise themselves. “Human Trafficking in the Hotel Industry in

the Netherlands: The Fine Line between Service, Responsibility and Liability,’ by van der Graff,

focuses on three different viewpoints when it comes to the liability of a hotel and human

trafficking occuring in their business: the legal perspective, the ethical perspective, and the

economic perspective. In the introduction of this article, Graaf talks about a study that was done

by the Netherlands Criminal Investigation Department. The department had women go

undercover as prostitutes (because half of the prostitutes working in the Netherlands are actually

victims of human trafficking) and go into the hotels. The experiment failed because none of the

hotel workers spotted the signs of human trafficking, therefore, did not do anything about it. This

study was recorded and broadcasted all over the Netherlands, raising awareness of the missed

signs of human trafficking. The focus on economic perspective was what a hotel would lose if
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they were caught with human trafficking occuring in their business. Hotels have a social

responsibility to stop human trafficking; however, not every customer can be a criminal. Hotels

risk the chance of being too harsh and questioning towards all customers that they could start

losing business, hunting them financially. Hotels are also like dominos. The majority of these

businesses are chains, so if one of them is raided, the others will suffer as well, creating what you

would call the domino effect. In the legal perspective, the three people Graaf interviewed for this

article all agreed that the criminal liability rests in the fact that the hotel is knowingly benefitting

from the human trafficking occuring in their business. This means that if they are willingly

renting out rooms to these traffickers so they can benefit financially, then they should be liable

for it. The hardest part about this is to prove they purposely rented out the rooms to traffickers.

Prosecuters have to prove that they intentionally ignored the signs of human trafficking.

Therefore, a hotel can only really be criminally liable if they can prove that they intentionally

ignored the signs of human trafficking and benefitted financially from doing so. The ethical

perspective is based on the “standard hierarchical scale of ethical duty. Cause no harm, prevent

and refrain from encouraging others to cause harm, combat existing harm, and encourage

goodness.” Victims of human trafficking lose over half of their basic human rights when in

captivity, and even after they escape. It should be these businesses' duty to try and prevent

traffickers from causing harm and becoming victims of a horrific crime (van der Graaf, Mar

2018).

Hotels in Atlanta, Georgia

In Cobb County, Atlanta, Georgia, a major hotel chain, Days Inn by Wyndham, was

known for being unsafe. It had a reputation as a hub for sex trafficking. One day, someone tipped
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off the hotel. Once this hotel was raided, there were lawsuits filed against it. The lawsuit claimed

the employees knew that trafficking was happening, but didn’t do anything about it. Someone in

the case said, “without a venue, or crime scene, a sex trafficking venture cease to exist.” An

example of the evidence brought to the lawsuit was a vending machine that sold condoms in it.

When the Wyndham spokesperson was confronted on the situation, he refused to speak on it, just

claiming that they were in the works of training employees on signs of sex trafficking in order to

make thier hotels more safe for customers. The signs that the prosecution claimed the defendants

missed were as follows: inappropriate appearance, poor hygiene, fatigue, injuries, no control of

money, and surrounded by men. The plaintiffs goal in this case is to take down hotels so they

don’t hurt other girls (Alexis Stevens Alexis.S, 2020 Aug 18).

Trafficking in Massage Parlors

Sex trafficking is the most prevelant in illicit massage parlors. All across the country,

statictis show that the majority of sex trafficking cases are found in this venue. There are more

than 9,000 of them running today. These massage parlors bring in about 2.5 billion dollars in

revenue a year (​Human Trafficking​, 2018). In order to stop this from happening, we have to

understand the indicators of these illicit massage parlors. They are usually hidden in strip malls

or on the side of the highway. The biggest visual indicator is that all windows are covered, prices

advertised on the outside are significantly lower than market price, and people are going through

a side/back door. Other indicators include things like women being on call all the time, women

demanding tips, serving only men, and advertising on sex websites. Majority of the victims that

come into illicit massage parlors are between the ages of 30-50. These women are mostly from

China and South Korea (​Human Trafficking,​ 2018). When looking at customers that come into
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these illicit massage parlors, the statistics show that the buyers are primarily caucasian men who

are wealthier and older than the general population. The problem found with the victims is that

they are usually poor, illegal immigrants who speak little to no English and don’t understand that

what they are doing is illegal. The traffickers that recruit these women promise them high wages,

no work background, and processes to their legal citizenship. Many people wonder, why don’t

the victims just leave? However, the mental/psychological pull that these traffickers have on the

women are strong enough to keep them scared and obedient. They make the victims feel

ashamed and threaten to use law enforcement or video footage against them. The women that are

illegal immigrants are so afraid of going back to their home that they will continue to follow the

traffickers without question. Others are also oblivious to what they are doing, as they are told

that this is normal behavior in the United States. These massage parlors run not only by

themselves, but are also connected to other businesses. They do this in order to launder the

money to traffickers. Other businesses, like nail salons or grocery stores, allow for this, as they

also receive profit off of it. The problem that the government has to overcome is that traffickers

are always one step ahead of them. They have the newest technology and methods in order to get

what they want. In order to stop sex trafficking in illicit massage parlors, the government has to

learn and be able to change their methods in order to stop the traffickers (​Human Trafficking​,

2018).

Case Law

Many cases have been brought to court in order to battle against these businesses, trying

to lower the number of sex trafficking victims. This section focuses on different cases and how

they were dealt with.

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Case against Three Major Hotel Chains

In Houston, Texas, three major hotel companies were brought to court by three different

cases of sex trafficking that occured in their hotels (Rudoff, 2020). These hotels consisted of the

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, La Quinta Inn, and Hilton Worldwide Holdings (Doubletree by

Hilton). The first legal principle brought to court was the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies

Code Section 98- “gross negligence for failing to stop/prevent sexual abuse of the plaintiff with

aparent signs of it happening”. The signs these victims claimed were happening were excessive

male traffic outside rooms, multiple condoms left on the floor of the rooms, paying in cash only,

and ignoring all room service. Another legal principle these victims are arguing is the Federal

Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. The summary of this act states that these

businesses benefited financially from housing human trafficking in their building. The three

victims are going to court in order to be compensated for personal injuries and economic

damages. There has been no update on this article since it was written in April of 2020. Although

many would argue that they didn’t know it was happening, and they may be telling the truth,

there are still signs that everyone should look out for when working or running a hotel/motel

business. An example of those signs were brought to court with this case, helping to bring

awareness to the situation (Rudoff, 2020).

United States v Glenn Marcus

In New York, a man named Glenn Marcus was convicted of violating the Trafficking

Victims Protection Act in federal district court. He was convicted after it was proven that he met

a girl online and started a consensual relationship, until she wanted to break it off. He then began

to be abusive towards her and forced her to stay with him. This abuse became more violent,
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turning their once consensual interactions into incidents using BDSM and posting inappropriate

videos on the internet. In the end of the case, “the jury convicted him on sex trafficking, forced

labor, and dissemination of obscene material through an interactive computer service.” This

court case later went to the Court of Appeals and into the United States Supreme Court because

of an argument involving the Ex Post Facto law, since his crimes took place before the

Trafficking Victims Protection Act was enacted (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,

n.d.).

United States v Anthony Donte Collier

In 2015, Anthony Donte Collier posted pictures of women on Facebook with

inappropriate clothing and poses, alluding to sexual content. He also posted frequently about the

amount of money he always had. Law enforcement suspected him of sex trafficking and started

an investigation. It wasn’t until they started looking into him that they found multiple pictures of

women and minors on his phone, as well as pictures he uploaded to an escort website. His

Facebook page, “Pimps and Hoes,” was another platform he used to recruit women. When the

police interviewed his victims, they said that Collier took them to hotels and motels and used

them for commercial sex. He was taken to Federal Discrict Court in North Dakota and was

charged with sex trafficking of four women and one minor. He was sentenced to forty years in

prison (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, n.d.).

Conclusion
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Sex trafficking is an organized crime that happens all over the world. In fact, a human

being is being sold to a trafficker at this very moment. This is able to happen because of the

businesses that enable traffickers to sell these men and women in their establishments. There are

laws in place not only in Virginia, but other states that require businesses to post the National

Human Trafficking Hotline, but it isn’t specific on where to post it. These venues, like illicit

massage parlors and hotel/motel-based businesses, need to be stopped from allowing sex

trafficking to travel through their business. Ending sex trafficking is dependent on the

community’s ability to bring about awareness and work to help save these humans that are losing

their basic human rights every single minute that they are trafficked.
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