KIROTV.COM - Women were lured from Asia and forced into prostitution in Arizona,
Illinois, Virginia and Washington, according to a federal indictment.
Some of the women allegedly worked as prostitutes inside a Bellevue apartment building.
According
to court documents, undercover officers were directed to the Amli
apartment complex, across from Bellevue Downtown Park, after following
up on an ad for "sexy Asian women" in the "Body Rub" section of
backpage.com.
When an officer arrived at the apartment building,
he was met by a woman who said she was from Thailand and offered sex
for money.
In the indictment, prosecutors accuse Unruean Abolulafia of being the ringleader and an illegal immigrant.
They
say five others, including her ex-husband, are part of a conspiracy
that "enticed Asian women to travel to and within the US for
prostitution," to "profit financially ... from prostitution activities."
Undercover officers also found sex trafficking of Asian women at other apartment complexes in Bellevue.
Rajat Parsad, a resident of Amli, suspected that something was going on.
"I just noticed some girls and they were sort of dressed up like you
know, pretty scantily clad," he said. "When I asked them what they did
they were very shy about it."
The indictment said the apartment was leased by Jeff Chu.
Chu
was one of six people who were indicted for conspiracy on Monday in
connection to the alleged crimes, but his lawyer said he is innocent.
The
indicted could face up to five years in prison on the sex trafficking
charges and up to 20 years in prison for separate charges of money
laundering to hide the illegal profits.
On Monday, the State
Senate approved tougher new laws, adding "human trafficking" and "sex
abuse of a child for money" to the list of crimes that require sex
offender registration.
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