Q&A of the Day – No human trafficking at the Orchids Day Spa in Jupiter or no human trafficking charges? Part 2
Bottom Line: Right along my biggest concern was that we wouldn’t see full accountability in the Orchids Day Spa case. It’s part of the reason I’d been so vocal about the topic right along. There’s a significant difference between crimes being committed and crimes being successfully prosecuted. Especially when the stakes are so high with someone of Robert Kraft’s stature involved.
According to the investigative records made available during the legal proceedings over the past month and a half,here are a couple of the worker/witness accounts who were initially cooperating with investigators
- LixiaZhu, 48, told detectives she came from China to work at a nail salon in Chicago then was forced into sex trafficking. Her passports were locked up and her relatives in China were threatened
- “Jane Doe”, stated she had been shuttled to seven or eight other U.S cities to perform similar acts in massage parlors
But now we’re to believe that they made it all up and really did want to come to the US and live and work under the conditions that we know existed in these day spas? But still you’re wanting to know why, if this was the case, human trafficking charges weren’t pursued in the court proceedings on Friday. I’ll walk you back to a March 8th statement by Anthony Salisbury, Special Agent in charge, from the Miami office of the Department of Homeland Security Investigative unit (he worked with local authorities on the investigation):
One of the challenges in expanding a case from prostitution to sex trafficking is getting the female employees to cooperate. Many suspects in cases who are alleged sex traffickers end up being charged with prostitution or money laundering instead. Even more challenging are cases involving Asian women, who tend to have a bigger language barrier and deeper distrust of law enforcement. That is one of the communities that seems to be reluctant to come forward...
Anthony’s role included tracking $20 million that flowed from the Florida Day spas back to China from the operators of these spas...was that also the desire of the women working in them?
But again,as Anthony stated, and as I’ve seen studying human trafficking cases throughout my career, the vulnerability of women in these positions and their families who’re potentially under threat back in Asia are often the causes as to why this happens.
This case is shaping up to be a different version of a similar thing to what we’ve seen in other high-profile cases. Because the prosecutor in Chicago dropped all charges against Jussie Smollet – did he not do anything wrong? Because James Comey said no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges against Hillary Clinton, did she not illegally operate a private email server while conducting State business?
There are two sides to stories and one-side to facts. I always establish the facts and I go where they take me. And if I do error, I’ll error on the side of human trafficking victims and life generally. No apologies here but thank you for providing me with the opportunity to address this topic and concern of yours and perhaps others.