LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — FOX5 has learned human trafficking arrests are up this year in Las Vegas and has new details on a human trafficking operation Metro took down last week.
The busy brothel was running out of a home in Southwest Vegas, but worker were also being sent to Strip hotels.
FOX5 has been digging through arrest reports and court records. Interestingly, the main human trafficking suspect is not allowed to go anywhere near the Strip Corridor as a condition of his bail. Police say he not only sold women there but also out of an unsuspecting home in a normally quiet neighborhood.
The home, near Hacienda and Buffalo, is boarded up after a SWAT team raided it. Investigators call a “residential brothel” and arrested three people for sex trafficking and other charges related to the operation.
FOX5 spoke to neighbors who say they knew something unusual was going on for years but did not know what.
The investigation into what was going on inside started back in December. A Metro officer fluent in Mandarin was reading a Chinese newspaper and saw multiple suspicious ads including pictures of women and phone numbers to book appointments.
The officer messaged: “How many girls can I choose from? Any pictures?”
The operator responded: “We have one every five days. Only one girl each time, very busy, so schedule appointment one to two hours ahead, please understand…girlfriend experience $300 an hour.” Pictures of women were sent.
The detective reached back out in April asking: “How many girls? Can you send pictures?”
The operator answered: “One girl at a time, new girl every five days.”
Detectives began surveillance of the house watching numerous men come and stay for about an hour over the course of several month, some even taking rideshare to get there. They also followed a car with a women passengers to Strip casinos and to be dropped off and watched as they were picked up a couple hours later after going up to hotel rooms.
The officer paid a $1,000 deposit and promised thousands more and five women were sent to a Strip hotel as instructed.
Metro served three warrants at the same time last Wednesday morning, on two homes and a business looking to stop the human trafficking operation. As FOX5 reported, $25,000 in damage was done to a home also in the southwest valley. Metro now says the homeowner was not involved in any criminal activity.
The homeowner says the suspect moved out before she moved in five years ago and Metro has agreed to pay for the damage to the home. FOX5 has learned the house was under surveillance at least once during the investigation, but no activity was reported there.
Friday, FOX5 also got new numbers from Metro on human trafficking arrests. So far this year, they are up 70%. They have made 70 arrests so far, compared to 41 this time last year.
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