By Alexandra Sullivan, Contributing Writer
Sex slavery is not unheard of in Seattle, Washington, and the areas around it. There is a continuously rising share of sex trafficking cases. In fact, the industry has run rampant within the last few years.
All types of trafficking have been on the rise in the Seattle area. Aurora Avenue is just one of many places that have seen a large increase in prostitution due to shutdowns of sex service websites. Child trafficking is especially rampant in King County, with an estimated 500 teens working as sex slaves every day. In King and Pierce County, one girl makes a pimp about $150,000 a year on average, thus there are gangs trading harems of victims. More and more victims are piling up.
There have been plenty of individual cases as well, such as one child trafficking case of a 12-year-old involving Craigslist and hotels in Seattle. Another case was that of 25-year-old David Delay of Lynnwood, who was sentenced to 33 years in prison for using social media to recruit young women and teens into prostitution.
Thus, it comes as no surprise to find that one of the biggest sex trafficking rings in modern history was exposed in Seattle. It took the police over three years of investigating and monitoring before they busted the culprits. On February 28, 2019, five different spa owners were charged, along with a warrant for a sixth, for promising several women stable jobs in the U.S., only to force them into prostitution at these massage parlors instead. Working alongside the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, officers served warrants to an alleged human trafficking network involving multiple massage parlors and spas.
One of the first massage parlors that prompted the investigation was an unmarked storefront called the "Magic Touch." They had a fairly large operation with locations in Bellevue, Kent, Kirkland, Lynnwood, Olympia, Lacey, Puyallup, Renton, Tukwila, Seattle and Federal Way, as well as in Eastern Washington cities such as Richland, Kennewick, Wenatchee and Spokane. They recruited both abroad and inside the United States, often through a messaging app called WeChat.
The victims were mainly from China and were between 20 and 60 years old. There were claims of horrible working conditions and 20-hour workdays, seven days a week. Victims were often under video surveillance and followed by the suspected organizers. After the suspects were arrested, many of the women disappeared, though several stayed and continued to work with advocacy programs.
Several Seattle-based organizations provide programs and assistance for victims and those wishing to stop this injustice. They use all sorts of methods, including apps development, victim assistance, volunteer work, extensive advertising and education on sex trafficking and its signs. By funding organizations like these that directly help survivors, One Bread Foundation is helping to rehabilitate children aged 8 – 18 who are rescued from sex trafficking. To help, consider donated as little as $1 a month to our 1 in a Million campaign. Read more and donate at one-bread.org/donate.