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| Patriots owner Robert Kraft has denied any guilt. |
ASAM NEWS &
Views From the Edge
When the Super Bowl 50 was held at Levi Stadium in San Jose in 2016, my county's Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force was briefed on the expected rise in sex trafficking and labor trafficking that occurs around the country's biggest sporting event.
With the other anti-human trafficking agencies around the San Francisco Bay Area, we developed a strategy and raised awareness of the problem. One of the most important things accomplished was changing the mainstream media's perception of the women simply by changing the words "prostitutes" to "victims" and "pimps" to "exploiters."
This issue came up again this week when NFL Patriots’ owner, Robert Kraft, was arrested for soliciting sex at a Florida spa under police investigations for its alleged sex trafficking operation, reports Business Insider.
According to TC Palm, the spa — Orchids of Asia Day Spa — is one of ten spas and massage parlors that were shut down following the discovery that they were trafficking Asian women into prostitution. Investigators found semen in the trash allegedly belonging to the spa, and a health inspector found some women sleeping in the massage parlor.
TC Palm also reported that investigators discovered online postings that they say prove the spa, located in Jupiter, Florida, was offering sexual services and massage body rubs for pay.
After receiving a warrant to install surveillance cameras in the spa, officers found footage of men groping women and receiving oral sex from the victims at the establishment.
The women working at the massage parlor appeared to be living at the business, according to a Jupiter Police Department probable cause affidavit, a sign that their movement may have been restricted.
After receiving a warrant to install surveillance cameras in the spa, officers found footage of men groping women and receiving oral sex from the victims at the establishment.
The women working at the massage parlor appeared to be living at the business, according to a Jupiter Police Department probable cause affidavit, a sign that their movement may have been restricted.
Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey said during a news conference that many of these women were victims from China who were on temporary work visas anticipating full-time, legitimate work, only to be forced into “sexual servitude.” They have rescued six female victims from China, who don’t speak any English.
“These girls are there all day long, into the evening. They can’t leave and they’re performing sex acts,” he said. “Some of them may tell us they’re OK, but they’re not.”
The three women arrested in the alleged sexual trafficking operations are Hua Zhang, 58, Ruimei Li, 49, and Lei Wang, 39. According to various sources, including Business Insider and TC Palm, approximately 165 to 173 men were charged with crimes related to the ring.
The Jupiter Police Detective wrote, “Under the name Orchids of Asia Day Spa, several posting were located from February 2015 to March 2018. The postings detailed visits involving Asian females providing sexual acts, as well as massage/body rubs in exchange for payment.”
Sex trafficking accounted for 6,081 of the more than 8,500 reported cases of human trafficking in the United States in 2017, according to statistics from the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
The sex rings, such as the massage parlors in the Florida case, are often associated with criminal organizations in their home countries. The women and their families are indebted to the criminal operations. If the sex ring the women are a part of is broken up, they cannot return to their home countries without fear of retribution.
U.S.-based gangs find sex trafficking more lucrative than dealing in drugs because the women are used and abused over and over again, whereas drugs are single-use products. No hard figure is available for the underground operation. Estimates put sex trafficking in the U.S. from $3 billion to $9.5 billion.By identifying the women as victims, instead of putting the women behind bars, the women can be offered service and assistance.
If the women engaged in sex acts are charged as human trafficking victims they could be subjected to deportation or prosecution. But if they are designated as victims, they will be eligible for T visas, a visa solely designated for human trafficking victims. There are 5,000 T visas available every year.
If the women engaged in sex acts are charged as human trafficking victims they could be subjected to deportation or prosecution. But if they are designated as victims, they will be eligible for T visas, a visa solely designated for human trafficking victims. There are 5,000 T visas available every year.
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