Bay Area hotels accused of ignoring sex trafficking on premises: lawsuit

(KRON) -- A lawsuit filed this week said that five Bay Area hotels did nothing to stop sex trafficking despite knowing it was happening on their premises. The lawsuit names motels in Oakland, San Pablo, Santa Rosa and Richmond.

The lawsuit was filed by a woman who says she was a sex trafficking victim from 2012-2016. During that time, her traffickers allegedly used each of the five hotels named in the lawsuit:

• Civic Center Motel: 425 24th St. in Richmond
• Welcome Inn: 9920 MacArthur Blvd. in Oakland
• Sands Motel: 14800 San Pablo Ave. in San Pablo
• Motel 6 Embarcadero: 1801 Embarcadero in Oakland
• Astro Motel: 323 Santa Rosa Ave. in Santa Rosa

The plaintiff spent significant time at all of these hotels as a sex trafficking victim. She says hotel staffers repeatedly saw her looking bruised, sickly and unhappy and did not step in.

The lawsuit includes details of how the victim's traffickers harmed her. She alleges that they gave her drugs to knock her unconscious, beat her and tied her up.

On many days, the woman had to make at least $1,000 per day by having sex or she would be punished, the lawsuit said. There were frequent arguments and fights, which hotel staffers allegedly did not call police for.

There were numerous signs that could have tipped workers off to the sex trafficking happening at the hotels, including paying for stays in cash, scantily-clad women, several men visiting the same woman in one room and a large amount of condoms in the trash.

"These red flags were open and obvious to anyone working at the named subject hotel locations and lasted for five years," the lawsuit said. Other guests left reviews stating that they were aware of prostitution.

At the Welcome Inn in Oakland, the plaintiff once ran to the front desk and asked them to call the police, per the lawsuit. The managers refused to help.

Motel employee was paid off, had sex with plaintiff

The manager of the Civic Center Motel in Richmond accepted drugs and sex in exchange for looking the other way regarding sex trafficking, the lawsuit alleges.

The man, known as "Pops," knew about the victim specifically. He received drugs or money to keep quiet when there was noise or commotion, per the suit.

"Pops" was allegedly having sex with another one of the victims. He managed the hotel along with his brother

"It was well known to the trafficking victims staying there that 'Pops' was paying the traffickers to have sex with their girls," the lawsuit said.

The man would go around knocking on doors demanding money to keep his mouth shut. He also told the traffickers how the victims should dress to avoid attracting police.

KRON4 made attempts to reach out to each of the five hotels mentioned, some of which are no longer in operation. We received no comment.