There are three Motel 6 properties in SeaTac which were named in a number of civil lawsuits associated to intercourse trafficking over the previous decade, one with as many as 10 or extra. The places on Pacific Freeway South, forty seventh Avenue South and Navy Highway South are nonetheless open.
I’m an lawyer who represents survivors alleging they have been trafficked at these properties, together with kids. I’ve filed lawsuits detailing the identical sample: traffickers who rented rooms with money, workers’s recognition of them, ladies and ladies displaying seen indicators of abuse, and an organization gathering income whereas trafficking continued.
The documented historical past didn’t start with our lawsuits. King County Sheriff’s deputies have been referred to as to the forty seventh Avenue South property over 1,000 occasions between 2016 and 2019 for space checks and in response to 911 calls. Two males have been charged inside six days of one another for trafficking ladies and ladies from the identical Motel 6. Regulation enforcement calls have been fixed and extreme in any respect three of those properties for years, and native governments acknowledged them as prime crime venues.
The lawsuits have described trafficking durations spanning from the early 2000s by means of a minimum of 2023. Survivors have been taken there repeatedly, typically staying for days, weeks or extra at a time. Indicators of trafficking included teenage ladies who appeared unhealthy, exhausted and frightened; younger ladies with seen accidents; male guests biking by means of in any respect hours; money funds and false identification; requests for extreme towels and linens; blood in rooms; rooms chosen close to exits; and post-checkout proof of trafficking.
One shopper was 14 when her trafficking started, and most have been trafficked for months or years at these properties.
Each January, motel guardian firm G6 Hospitality points a press release about its zero-tolerance stance on human trafficking. In 2019, it signed a world baby safety code of conduct. In 2022, CEO Rob Palleschi mentioned: “There may be nothing extra essential to us than making a protected atmosphere.” The corporate launched necessary annual trafficking-awareness coaching for all workers and donated $500,000 to an business survivor fund. In 2024, a brand new CEO expanded coaching and new software program to establish trafficking ads. “G6 Hospitality stays dedicated to combating human trafficking throughout the nation and has a zero-tolerance coverage towards it,” they mentioned.
Each January, a information launch. Each month, enterprise as common.
Below the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, survivors can sue companies and people that knowingly benefited from intercourse trafficking or ought to have recognized trafficking was occurring. Federal courts have saved these claims alive towards G6 in our instances.
Coaching will not be enforcement. The motel franchise mannequin makes accountability even tougher. G6 units insurance policies and collects the earnings, whereas franchise operators run the properties. When trafficking happens, company factors to the franchisee, and the franchisee claims ignorance. This diffusion of accountability has allowed crimes to persist at these addresses for much too lengthy, although proof exhibits consciousness on all sides.
Civil litigation is doing its half, nevertheless it has limits. There is no such thing as a disruption to enterprise, no imposed situations on future operations, no legal legal responsibility and little public report created.
Cities and counties can act by means of nuisance abatement, permitting governments to impose safety necessities, pressure administration adjustments, or shut properties. In 2017, the town of Los Angeles used this mechanism towards a Motel 6, and G6 paid $250,000 and was required to implement sweeping safety and administration adjustments for 3 years. Cities like San Diego and Greensboro, N.C., have used nuisance abatement to close down inns the place trafficking persevered after repeated warnings.
The cities of SeaTac and Seattle, King County and the state of Washington have this authority. The query is political will.
G6 has referred to as itself a frontrunner in anti-trafficking efforts for years. But, these Motel 6 properties have appeared in lawsuit after lawsuit introduced by survivors, some who have been kids, testifying to intercourse trafficking.
The lawsuits are holding the road. It’s time for the cities and counties with authority over these properties to cease them from knowingly taking advantage of such heinous crimes.
