Sex trafficking targeted at isle hotels

Female leaders from the state’s visitor industry are urging businesses to play a greater role in stopping sex trafficking, which they say is victimizing children from Hawaii and elsewhere.

Hawaii Women in Lodging & Tourism, an offshoot of the Hawaii Lodging & Tourism Association, contacted to representatives of about 75 companies during a luncheon last week at the Neal Blaisdell Center.

"After drugs, sex trafficking is the largest criminal industry in the world," said Julie Arigo, general manager of the Wai­kiki Parc Hotel and president of Hawaii Women in Lodging & Tourism. "It happens in cities and suburbs all over the U.S., often in hotels. The travel industry needs to be on the front lines of this troubling trend."

Arigo and other female leaders want their companies to implement new standards and employee training programs geared to reducing prostitution in Hawaii.

They pledged their support to assist Jessica Munoz, founder and president of the nonprofit Ho‘ola na Pua, with plans to provide underage sex trafficking victims with a treatment campus. They also urged leaders to request that Gov. David Ige work with politicians and law enforcement officials to pass a victim-centered sex trafficking law.

The drive is due partly to efforts by the American Hotel & Lodging Association to prioritize an anti-sex trafficking agenda because illegal acts take place at hotels. Hotel chains including Hilton Worldwide, Carlson Companies, Wyndham Worldwide, Accor and Starwood have adopted standards and training.

"The issue of human trafficking is global and growing," said Steph­a­nie Dow­ling, regional director of communications for Starwood Hawaii. "The hotel industry has for years been working to combat this problem. Starwood Hotels and Resorts considers training our associates on this issue and what to look for a priority."

Outrigger Enterprises Group and a host of other Hawaii hotels also are developing anti-sex-trafficking training and procedures.

Visitor industry companies say their sensitivity to sex trafficking has been heightened by the recent debate surrounding Ige’s likely veto of Senate Bill 265. The bill, which was supported by HLTA, victim advocates and neighbor island prosecutors, clarifies sex trafficking as forcing someone into prostitution and would allow such victims to seek compensation and file lawsuits. It also allows wiretapping for sex trafficking investigations and reduces prostitution offenses by children from a petty misdemeanor to the equivalent of a traffic violation.

"The governor has received objections (to the bill) not only from the law enforcement community, but others in the social service community who work with victims," said Cindy McMillan, Ige’s spokes­woman.

While Ige has concerns about SB 265, McMillan said, he supports taking another look at the issue and intends to work with law enforcement and social service representatives to ensure new legislation will address the identified problems.

The Honolulu prosecutor’s office says it has successfully used existing laws to prosecute traffickers and put pimps in prison; Hono­lulu police also regard current laws as sufficient to prosecute all acts of human trafficking related to commercial sex, said HPD spokes­woman Michelle Yu.

"The biggest challenge is not the law, but getting victims to cooperate," Yu said. "Often the victim is the only witness, so her testimony is the strongest component in a prostitution or sex trafficking case."

From 2013 to 2015, she said, seven cases were declined or dropped because of uncooperative victims.

Still, the Hawaii Women’s Legislative Caucus has sent Ige a letter urging him to sign the bill into law this year while allowing the Legislature to refine it later. State Sen. Laura Thielen (D, Hawaii Kai-Wai­ma­nalo-Kai­lua) said Hawaii’s designation as an international tourism destination, isolated geographic location and strong military presence make the state more vulnerable to sex traffickers.

"I’m glad to see the visitor industry getting more involved," she said. "Not passing this bill sends a bad message to visitors that want to come here to engage in sex for hire. We need to get the word out that we won’t tolerate this kind of behavior."

Munoz, who is working on opening a long-term care facility for underage victims on the North Shore in 2017, said she hopes that Ige also will look for inspiration from other states, including Tennessee, where sex trafficking laws and protocols are in place.

"We shouldn’t all be disappointed or lose hope. If this bill doesn’t go through, it’s not the end of the world. We need a bill that is comprehensive, and whatever it takes to get to that point is fine," said Munoz while challenging visitor industry leaders to fight sex trafficking.

Munoz said the risk of sexual exploitation increases anytime large groups of men come to Hawaii for business or pleasure and that exploitation often takes place in hotel rooms. While prostituted women and children can be found all over the islands, Munoz said they walk the streets of Wai­kiki and stay in hotel rooms there on a daily basis.

"Traffickers believe that hotels are anonymous and low-risk places to exploit children," she said. "Hawaii’s visitor industry needs to adopt a zero-tolerance policy even for the high-dollar customer. When we turn our back, its condoing the raping of a child."

Brittany Duncan’s case illustrates the intersection of Hawaii’s visitor and prostitution industries while also serving as an example of the difficulties in prosecuting alleged sex traffickers.

Duncan, 24, who gave the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser permission to use her name because she hopes that advocacy will bring reforms, said she was recruited out of Mili­lani High School by a pimp who she thought was her boyfriend. As a teenager, Duncan said, she didn’t have the courage or wisdom to leave the violent and drug-filled world of prostitution.

"I thought that he loved me, but when I turned 18 he sold me to another pimp for $7,500," she said. "I was advertised in Mili­lani, downtown, Wai­kiki and in online venues."

In 2013 Duncan was arrested for solicitation at a Wai­kiki hotel after agreeing to have sex with an undercover officer for money. Police used legal leverage to get her to implicate her alleged pimp but then took almost a month to arrest him. The case dragged on even after she provided grand jury testimony and he was charged.

"I wasn’t allowed to leave Hawaii. They wouldn’t let me go with my parents to Alaska," Duncan said. "They delayed the case a lot. I remember wanting so badly for it to be over. They were using me to put someone else away. I was scared."

Ultimately, the case of the second man accused of trafficking Duncan was dismissed this year because prosecutors failed to try the case within the time allotted for a fair trial.

"They lost evidence, and one of their collaborating witnesses disappeared," said Kathy Xian, executive director of the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, which helped hide Duncan and paid for her rent and food. They also provided her with the emotional support to get through the legal proc­ess. Xian said the group has worked with about 125 victims since 2009, but she worries that some women and girls are falling through the cracks.

"If they don’t trust the system and they don’t cooperate, there aren’t any resources for them," Xian said.

Kanani Iaea, who works for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said it is vital that all visitor industry businesses take seriously the role that they can play in halting the spread of child sex trafficking.

"It’s an extremely important issue that, unfortunately, I know is very real and hits close to home," Iaea said. "My daughter’s friend, who came from a very good family, was trafficked off the island."

Iaea said the girl, who was just 13 at the time, also tried to recruit her daughter but was unsuccessful.

"My daughter told us what was happening, and we notified the police," Iaea said. "The outcome could have been very different, but we were very watchful. The visitor industry needs to be just as vigilant."