Hotel Chains Across U.S. Involved in Lawsuits for Complacency in Sex Trafficking Operations
In news articles, as recent as 2017 and earlier, hotel chains across the country are involved in multiple lawsuits stating the owners and/or employees were complicit or instrumental in sex trafficking operations against minors. Popular hotel chains including Days Inn, Choice Hotels, Red Roof Inn, and Motel 6 were all named in each of the lawsuits. A Los Angeles-based Motel 6 was ordered to pay $250,000 in damages; A small price to pay considering their complacency in ensuring lifelong physical and psychological damage to the victims.
These examples are merely a drop in the bucket. We are facing a world wide epidemic when it comes to the prevalence of sex trafficking and the young people it victimizes. For most people, hearing these stories in the media is troubling but it may not hit close to home. However the terrifying reality it is that it is close to home. The number of sex trafficking cases in Montgomery County has increased ten fold since 2014 according to Montgomery County Police. A spa in Rockville was recently shut down for using her place of business as a brothel after authorities used the GPS on her phone to track her to an apartment in Germantown where she was holding six Chinese women.
The following article contains one of the most recent lawsuits filed against hotels in Brooklyn, New York, but the reality is this is happening here, in our county, and around the globe. We can only begin to fight back by empowering victims and holding these businesses accountable.
