The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office has moved to take control of $6,039 it says investigators from Boston and State Police and the FBI seized in April at two rooms at the Ramada Inn, 800 Morrissey Blvd. that they say were being used by a Flushing, NY woman to offer other women for sale.
In a filing in Suffolk Superior Court, the DA’s office says investigators began looking at activities at the hotel as part of an effort to crack down on human trafficking in advance of the World Cup – dubbed Operation Yellow Card – and discovered a woman from the Queens neighborhood of Flushing was hiring other women off the plane from China to service men in rooms there.
The filing came the day before another Flushing woman was charged in federal court with running a similar operation in luxury apartments and condos in Allston and Brighton.
On April 7, an undercover state trooper contacted a number that promised willing Asian women for a fee in Boston and asked for details and prices – $140 an hour for one “girl” and $280 for two, the filing states. After learning the address, he asked if there was anything closer to downtown, because he was coming by train, it was raining and the Ramada, next to Boston Bowl, is a bit of a hike from the nearest train stop.
“No worry, can let girls wait for you,” he was assured.
Around 7 p.m., the trooper, accompanied by BPD and FBI human-trafficking investigators, arrived at the hotel and went into the lobby. The trooper went to the assigned room, 131, and as he approached, the door to room 130 opened and “an Asian female in lingerie” walked in and waved him in. As soon as he was past the door, he revealed his true identity – and was promptly joined by the other investigators.
The trooper dialed a translation phone number so he could ask her questions, although she didn’t say much – that she had flown from China to Boston two weeks earlier and immediately went to the Ramada.
She said that she came to America to make money because she has children in China and she is poor. She said that she joined a WeChat [Chinese social-media platform] group that a friend told her to join. There, a female told her that she can go to this motel and make money. She did not know at first this involved sex work, but it was later told to her. However, she said she was willing to perform sex work because it makes good money.
And she had no idea who “baby” – the woman with whom she communicated and got the job from – was or where she lived, the filing states.
While they were talking, a customer arrived. Instead of being met by a woman, though, the state trooper came out of the room. After getting information from him about the transaction he was hoping to complete, the trooper educated him “about human trafficking and sexual conduct for a fee” and then let him go.
The woman, meanwhile, stated she was not in fear for her safety and declined an evaluation by EMTs and any assistance connecting with Boston social services – and said she would depart in the morning.
Later the same day, another investigator arranged to meet another woman in another room at the Ramada, with the same results. She said she had taken a “Chinese Uber” up from Flushing to Morrissey Boulevard and had had 30 to 40 “dates” in the three days she had been there, in a room filled with dozens of unused condoms, baby oil, wipes and several “pieces of lingerie.”
The DA’s office says the cash it seized is subject to forfeiture because it was the product of illegal activities – in this case, running a sex-for-hire scheme. The money will be handed over to the DA’s forfeiture fund, unless the alleged owner contests the seizure in court.
