Victims of Sex Trafficking

Dedicated Civil Attorneys Seeking Justice for Victims of Human Trafficking

In recent years, Michigan has seen an increase in both reports and arrests for sex trafficking. According to data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline, 1,186 substantive reports of human trafficking were made in Michigan in 2021. For that same year, the Human Trafficking Institute has reported 10 federal criminal convictions for sex trafficking in Michigan. Sex trafficking can involve overseas victims being brought to the United States on the promise of housing and work, only to be forced into selling sex for money which the criminal organizations that brought them here keep. Victims of sex trafficking are often subjected to repeated sexual assaults. Sex trafficking can also occur when a single individual, who may be suffering from a substance abuse disorder, is forced into performing sexual acts to benefit another person–such as a drug dealer or pimp. Regardless of the surrounding circumstances, sex trafficking occurs where one person benefits financially from forcing another to perform sexual acts for money.

Sex traffickers often use state borders as a means to control and manipulate their victims further. Threats of deportation, unfamiliar surroundings, and isolation from their support networks exacerbate the victims’ vulnerability. As they are moved from place to place, they remain in a state of constant fear and uncertainty, making it challenging for them to escape or seek help. These vulnerable victims are often unable or unwilling to seek the help of a lawyer. Federal criminal statutes enable the U.S. government to assume federal jurisdiction over interstate sex trafficking cases, however holding perpetrators and accomplices accountable in Michigan often requires using civil statutes and the help of a qualified tort attorney to help victims of sex trafficking to obtain justice.

When traffickers rent a room in a hotel, and the staff and management ignore clear signs of trafficking, the hotel is benefiting financially from the forced prostitution. Under these circumstances, survivors of sex trafficking can hold the hotel liable under federal law with the help of a qualified attorney. By holding hotels accountable, these large chains will take steps to ensure trafficking does not occur in their properties, thus reducing the available space for sex trafficking to occur.

Some of the indicators of sex trafficking in a hotel are as follows:

• different men frequently entering and leaving a specific room,
• guests staying in a room for long periods of time, while refusing housekeeping services,
• high traffic to rooms throughout the night,
• many men passing through the lobby that never checked into the hotel,
• guests checking without luggage of proper identification,
• girls checking into a hotel with older men, or
• rooms being paid for with cash.

Where the conditions described above continue for lengthy periods of time or are repeated with frequency, a hotel that does not contact law enforcement may be intentionally overlooking the sex trafficking as a means to generate greater revenue through room rentals. Michigan hotels and motels are no stranger to sex trafficking; several large trafficking enterprises using motels have been broken up by state and federal authorities in the last few years. Most recently, a Michigan Department of Corrections officer was sentenced to one year in prison in September of 2023 for operating a sex trafficking and prostitution operation out of a Hartland Township motel, for which he advertised the services of trafficking victims online.

Multiple lawsuits have been filed by plaintiff’s lawyers nationwide against various large hotel chains. Presently, a federal judge in the northern district of Ohio has been asked to consolidate all those cases for ease of administration. Smaller hotels are often forced to close after allegations of rampant sex trafficking are shown to be true, as happened to the once infamous Victory Inn motel in Detroit, which was shut down after a sex trafficking ring involving over 20 victims of sex trafficking was discovered in 2017. If a hotel is forced to close before victims are able to make a claim, a Michigan personal injury attorney can discover if any clams may be covered by insurance that was in effect when the business was still operating. If you or a loved one has been forced to sell their body for the financial benefit of another, contact the experienced attorneys at Neumann Law Group for a free consultation today.