An 18-year-old victim of sex trafficking in Houston has filed a groundbreaking lawsuit accusing hotel chains, trucks stops and a shady website of profiting from the illegal exploitation of a minor.
‘Jane Doe #1’ is now an adult, but in 2014 she was not even 16 years old when she was forced into sex slavery and advertised on Backpage.com and trafficked at hotels and truck stops.
The lawsuit seeks damages from 15 hotel chains and five truck stops, including Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Choice Hotels International, Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, TravelCenters of America and the company that operates the Flying J truckstops, according to the Houston Chronicle.
An 18-year-old Houston woman has launched a groundbreaking lawsuit against hotel chains, trucks stops and Backpage.com. Pictured: Backpage CEO Carl Ferrer in court on October 2016
The sex trafficking victim claims that the companies profited from illegal exploitation of a minor by turning a blind eye
Backpage is the largest online classified site in the United States besides craigslist, and is home to 80 per cent of the human trafficking advertisements in the country
The lawsuit is believed to be the first of its kind in Texas.
‘It is rare that you see a civil prosecution on behalf of a victim against those individuals who have profited off it, not just the immediate nucleus of the pimp and the john,’ the woman’s lawyer, Annie McAdams, said.
‘Human trafficking is prevalent in Houston. Guys know if they want sex there are plenty of places they can go, but this lawsuit is an opportunity to shut down those locations.’
Backpage.com and its CEO Carl Ferrer are also named in the lawsuit. Ferrer leaves a hearing on Capitol Hill in January 2017 after invoking his Fifth Amendment right
McAdams, says the disregard for her client was ‘egregious’.
Hotels and truck stops would take reservations for the minor, and then do nothing when dozens of men visited a room occupied by the teenager.
‘When you have 40 to 50 johns in one night visiting one room and it’s not prevented or stopped, somebody should be held accountable,’ she said.
‘It is rare that you see a civil prosecution on behalf of a victim against those individuals who have profited off it, not just the immediate nucleus of the pimp and the john,’ the woman’s lawyer, Annie McAdams, said
The Houston girl was living at home with her parents when she was lured into sex trafficking by a pimp who has since been convicted.
She was rescued by police in east Houston in an undercover operation. She told authorities that she would be drugged and then wake up after having been assaulted by multiple men.
‘It’s unspeakable,’ McAdams said. ‘It’s the worst type of abuse you could imagine.’
Backpage.com and its CEO Carl Ferrer are also named in the lawsuit. This is not the first time he has faced charges.
Backpage is the largest online classified site in the United States besides craigslist, and is home to 80 per cent of the human trafficking advertisements in the country.
Sex trafficking is something that impacts at least 150,000 young people in the United States, many of who are brutally raped, abused and unable to return to a normal way of life.
A Senate report alleged the advertising site was teaching its users how to post ads without revealing the true illegale nature of its transaction.
The senate alleges the site systematically altered ts ads after finding that emails that told users to remove words such as ‘daddy’s girl,’ ‘cheerleader,’ ‘teenager,’ and ‘amber alert.’
Backpage has denied the allegations and argued it has been a victim of censorship and shouldn’t be held accountable.