413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

Truckers
The underground commercial sex economy is also found within truck driver networks. Dallas law
enforcement dedicated two law enforcement officials to investigate child sex trafficking at truck stops
(similar to other cities, such as Oklahoma City). While they did not find any cases of child sex trafficking
at truck stops, they did stumble upon another form of the UCSE that involved American citizen male truck
drivers prostituting themselves or sex trafficking their spouses across the country:
Respondent 1: The truckers’ thing is kind of its own undercover trucker undercover
network. And what they're doing basically is, it’s gone pretty much online. And so they
interact online and just give out a location of, “I'm going to be driving down I-10, such
and such day at such and such time.” And so then that’s how they make the connection.
They’ll connect with the person actually along whatever route the person’s driving
through. Sometimes it’s the husband helping to figure out what the wife’s schedule is
going to be.
Respondent 2: It’s more of a domestic thing then-
Respondent 1: It’s kind of this whole network that’s out there and all across the country
they just kind of give out their plans, this is where I’ll be located. And then they’ll meet
up. And sometimes you can see them referencing, “The last time was great.” … So it's kind
of like, I’ll be coming back that way again. You build those associates. So that’s why we
don’t see it on our level. Because it’s something that we couldn’t even guess was going on
out there.
Interviewer: These are domestic These are American citizens that are doing this
Respondent 1: Oh yeah. (Dallas Law Enforcement Officials)
Washington, DC
Nine individuals were interviewed about the local underground commercial sex economy in Washington,
DC. Representatives from the following agencies were interviewed: DC Metropolitan Police Department
(MPD), US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Office of the United States Attorney, and a DC-based
anti-human trafficking nonprofit.
The underground commercial sex economy in DC is varied and includes online and street prostitution,
erotic Asian massage parlors, and Latino brothels (see table 4.3). Because of the city’s location between
Maryland and Virginia, much of the underground commercial sex activity occurs without regard to
jurisdiction. Furthermore, because of its location along major highways (I-95, I-66, I-270) and its
proximity to Baltimore, DC is a significant part of East Coast sex trafficking circuits. Both online and
street prostitution includes individuals who are pimp-controlled, drug-addicted, and transgender.
Street/Internet-based pimps are networked with one another, but similar to what was reported in other
cities, they operate in more of a social network, rather than an organized criminal network. Massage
parlors and brothels do resemble more of an organized criminal network and will often include a
hierarchical structure within the operation. These businesses will also wire money back to their home
countries on a regular basis.
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