Category: Awareness

Ten spas have been closed, and several people have been taken into custody on sex trafficking charges. The owner of Orchids of Asia Day Spa, 58-year-old Hua Zhang, was arrested Tuesday on 29 prostitution and related charges. Police in her arrest report said they watched video of her employees performing various sex acts with two dozen customers.

Roger DeHart walked from the Broward courthouse to the front steps of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., DeHart, 48, logged 1,065 miles on foot during his “No More Miles” walk. First S.T.O.P, which stands for “Saving Teens and Others from Predators.” And now DeHart is ready to put on his walking shoes again.

When Tampa Bay Tech’s government class came up with a mock bill to pass among peers, Anjali Sanichara took it as a challenge. Sanichara chose to draft a bill which would provide amnesty to human trafficking victims.
Victims are often forced to commit crimes, Sanichara explained, crimes they would otherwise not commit and should not be prosecuted for.

In recent years, law-enforcement agencies have focused on arresting and prosecuting human traffickers who profit from exploiting others. But a months long investigation in Martin and Palm Beach counties,was one of the largest in recent memory that targeted the buyers whose dollars allow trafficking organizations to thrive.

The “zombie-like” victims in the South Florida spa sex case in which Patriots owner Robert Kraft is entangled could be part of a $20 million human trafficking ring with ties to China where “the men are the monsters,” a local sheriff says.

Investigators said they believe the women who work at the massage parlors were from China, and that they thought they would be working in legitimate spas for the chance at a better life. A health inspector found them to be enslaved and living a nightmare.

Kraft’s legal woes may be a boon to the world of late-night comedy and talk radio, but to those touched by the moral rot of human trafficking, there’s nothing amusing about this. Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, FL. is the definition of seedy: a strip-mall storefront where immigrant women were essentially held in captivity, forced to sleep on massage tables and prepare food in a back alley.

“Sex trafficking is rampant in our city, and eradicating it should be a top priority when the new mayor of Tampa, FL. enters office,” says Geoff Rogers, C.E.O. and Co-founder at The U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking.

Kevin Malone, president and co-founder of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking told Fox News, “Florida’s trafficking bust in massage parlors is just the tip of the iceberg. This is happening all across the country.” Noting that many of the IMBs are managed by Chinese organized crime syndicates, Malone said the women involved “are taken usually to New York, where they are trained what to do.

“The rest of the country needs to pay attention of the fact that people are out there buying sex from trafficked victims every single day” says Stephanie Costolo Florida Regional Manager of the Trafficking Free Zone with the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking.

With Super Bowl in Miami, FL. for 2020, “A lot of these major sporting events attract thousands of men to a city where they primarily will drink and party and oftentimes purchase sex,” said Kevin Malone, co-founder and president of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking.

Hillsborough County leaders are looking at ways to fight back against human trafficking. At Wednesday’s Board of County Commissioner meeting, Commissioner Kimberly Overman proposed forming a task force to combat the crime, saying she wants to send a clear message. Tampa Bay has zero-tolerance toward human trafficking in general, whether it be for sex trafficking or labor traffic,” Overman said. “Hillsborough County is not ground zero, but close, to some serious problems that are causing a great deal of pain in our community.”

In 2018 alone, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 14,000 calls and 5,147 cases were reported. Cases of sex and labor trafficking have been on the rise for the past decade in Florida.

Dozens of women and children in Jacksonville, FL. were rescued from the horrors of human trafficking last year. “Traffickers want to sell people because they want to make money. So if we can reduce demand and no one was buying human beings—that’s really how we’re going to end human trafficking,” said Kristin Keen.