David Heath, Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism
The sex trafficking trade at hundreds of illicit massage parlors in the U.S. is rife with horrors — including rape — suffered by women forced to work in storefronts outnumbering some fast-food chains.
A Lee Enterprises investigation found most states fail to protect vulnerable women and few law enforcement agencies punish the owners of the businesses, let alone go after their support networks.
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This van was used to transport some of the 19 workers rescued from Vegas Buffet in Waco, Texas, after a raid on June 1. Two operators of the business were arrested.
Jerry Larson, WACO TRIBUNE-HERALD
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McLennan County sheriff’s deputies detain Yali Yang during a labor trafficking raid at Vegas Buffet restaurant in Waco, Texas, in June 2018.
KRISTIN HOPPA, WACO TRIBUNE-HERALD
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McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara, right, and Sgt. Joseph Scaramucci announce 17 solicitation of prostitution arrests in a recent sting operation in July 2023. Four of the people arrested were accused of soliciting minors.
Rod Aydelotte, Waco Tribune-Herald
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Police and town officials in Winfield, Indiana, closed down this massage parlor in November 2023 that prosecutors say was being used as a storefront for sex trafficking.
MARC CHASE, TIMES OF NORTHWEST INDIANA
Police and town officials in Winfield, Indiana, closed down this massage parlor in November 2023 that prosecutors say was being used as a storefront for sex trafficking.
MARC CHASE, TIMES OF NORTHWEST INDIANA
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McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara, left, and Detective Joseph Scaramucci, right, look over material before a 2017 press conference announcing their latest sex-buying sting.
JERRY LARSON, WACO TRIBUNE-HERALD
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Xiuwen Zhang — a Chinese immigrant and state-licensed massage therapist who owns XF Massage in Chesterfield, Virginia — discusses her arrest.
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Here’s how the Lee Enterprises Public Service Team did a first-of-its-kind analysis of states’ efforts to protect women who are subject to sex…
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