Volume 8
from impoverished backgrounds who spoke little
English.
Recruiters exploited these vulnerabilities during the
recruitment process, promising the victims access
to a better life in the United States in exchange for
a debt of between $40,000 and $60,000, which the
women were required to pay off through prostitution earnings.
As alleged in
the indictment,
before
transporting
the
women to the
United States,
the organization would typically arrange
to have the
women photographed for purposes of advertising them for sex
on websites like backpage.com and eros.com.
*Editors Update on backpage.com:
The Dallas offices of adult classified ad site Backpage.com were raided by State agents and CEO
Carl Ferrer was arrested for allegations that “adult
and child sex-trafficking victims were forced into
prostitution through escort ads posted on the site.”
55-year-old Ferrer was arrested on Thursday in
Houston, returning from a flight from Amsterdam.
Warrants have also been issued for the arrest of
the site’s controlling shareholders. Texas Attorney
General Ken Paxton released a statement saying,
“Making money off the backs of innocent human
beings by allowing them to be exploited for modern-day slavery is not acceptable in Texas.”
Oct/Nov 2016 Edition
“more appealing” to potential sex buyers in the
United States and added the cost to the victims’
debt.
The organization engaged in widespread visa
fraud to facilitate the international transportation of
the women into their commercial sex enterprise,
the indictment alleges.
Members of the criminal organization assisted in
obtaining fraudulent visas and travel documents for
the women, and members of the conspiracy used
personal information on the women and their families, which they gathered in the course of obtaining
the fraudulent documents, to threaten victims who
became non-compliant or tried to flee.
The defendants include:
• Sumalee Intarathong, 55, who was a boss in the
scheme is currently incarcerated in Liege, Belgium, is charged with conspiracy to commit sex
trafficking; sex trafficking by use of force, fraud
and coercion; conspiracy to commit forced labor; conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution; transportation to engage
in prostitution; conspiracy to engage in money
laundering; conspiracy to use a communication
facility to promote prostitution and conspiracy
to commit visa fraud.
• Chabaprai Boonluea, 42, of Winder, Georgia, was a house boss in the operation and is
charged with conspiracy to commit sex trafficking; sex trafficking by use of force, fraud and
coercion; conspiracy to commit forced labor;
conspiracy to commit transportation to engage
(*Courtesy of wochit News and YouTube)
The organization also encouraged the women to
have breast implants in Thailand to make them
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