# Human Trafficking victims sue hotel where they were held. Say it should have known what was up **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752 "2017-02-25T17:14:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/1 "2017-02-25T17:14:12Z")
Re this story [Human-trafficking victims sue Salisbury hotel](http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/maryland/2017/02/24/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel/98347930/) does a hotel staff have the responsibility to read between the lines and know there is a crime happening even if no specific act rises to the level of something actionable? > [@](#): > > The owners of the Salisbury hotel that was the site of a 2014 human-trafficking bust knew or should have known what was happening and tried to stop it, the victims allege in court documents. > > The four victims in the case filed separate lawsuits Friday in Wicomico County Circuit Court, detailing how they were forced against their will to work as prostitutes. The criminal activity took place at several hotels from June through November 2014, but the America’s Best Value Inn at 2625 N. Salisbury Blvd. was the “primary headquarters,” according to the lawsuits. > [@](#): > > There were several ways the hotel’s management or workers should have caught on to what was going on, the lawsuits allege. > > Some of the drug and prostitution deals were made in the parking lot not far from the facility’s front desk. It also should have been a red flag to staff that the ring would rent rooms for days at a time, refusing housekeeping services all the while, according to the legal complaint. The ring’s operators also would only accept towels by “slightly opening” the doors to the rooms they were renting. > > The lawsuits also point to online comments left by patrons on travel websites in the months and years leading up to the raid that complain of prostitution and drug transactions on its grounds. > > “Upon information and belief, despite such notice, no investigations were performed by the defendants, and there was no effort to correct the glaring danger on the premises,” Jane Doe No. 1’s attorneys said in her lawsuit. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/2 "2017-02-25T17:24:54Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Re this story [Human-trafficking victims sue Salisbury hotel](http://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/maryland/2017/02/24/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel/98347930/) does a hotel staff have the responsibility to read between the lines and know there is a crime happening even if no specific act rises to the level of something actionable? I suppose that will be the question posed to the judge and jury. I’m sure at some point we’d be comfortable imposing liability. Where that point is will be subject to debate. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/3 "2017-02-25T19:34:54Z")
If somebody is murdered in a hotel room, is the hotel a complicit accessory who “should have known” there was something funny about the guest? If there were reviews online about such activities in the hotel, how is it possible that the police, year after year, were blissfully unsuspecting that there were any drug deals or prostitution going on there? The police already knew, without the hotel desk needing to ring them up every night and describe all (or any) of their guests. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/4 "2017-02-25T19:57:40Z")
I don’t think the behavior/housekeeping complaint is fair to blame on the hotel. Hotel guests often have idiosyncrasies or their own personal oddities, and if you want a hotel to raise a red flag whenever someone doesn’t want housekeeping services, or only opens the door a bit to accept new towels, then hotels would be in crime sleuth mode 24/7. But as for ignoring the online comments posted about crime and drugs on the premises, yeah, the hotel should have done something about that. ---
**Author:** ![HowSoonIsThen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@HowSoonIsThen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HowSoonIsThen)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/5 "2017-02-25T21:11:17Z")
Making jokes about intrusive housekeeping at hotels is pretty much a cliche now. The idea that a guest would refuse that service while staying there doesn’t strike me as odd at all. And like **Velocity** said, all guests have their quirks. The traffickers probably seemed no stranger than plenty of innocent guests. ---
**Author:** ![Fruitbat2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5e9695/32.png) [@Fruitbat2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fruitbat2)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/6 "2017-02-25T21:15:53Z")
I think “if a reasonable person would have known” would be the deciding factor and although in some cases that would be very iffy, in other cases it would just be damn obvious. For example, if everyone in town and from out of town knows that X MOTEL is the place to go for some action, it would be ludicrous for the owners- who ARE profiting from it, hugely- to claim wide-eyed innocence and they should be held accountable for their contribution to and profiting from illegal activities. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/7 "2017-02-25T22:05:10Z")
Even knowing that there was prostitution going on seems a step short of knowing about human trafficking, it seems to me. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/8 "2017-02-26T03:29:27Z")
Human trafficking is a great evil, and this crime is apparently hard to prosecute. The allegations in the lawsuit are concerning, probably each case is legally distinct? Trafficking victims are so cowed and vulnerable they may not tell the truth even if asked directly by hotel staff – or even police or doctors. I recommend a book called “The Natashas” that truly opened my eyes to what can only be called modern slavery. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/9 "2017-02-26T03:56:16Z")
If you have Johns, who did not pay for the rooms, going in and out, with customer complaints about prostitution activity, and you don’t do something about it as owner or manager, you’re as guilty as they are. Did they have security cameras overlooking the parking lot? Were those at all monitored at any time? If so, then they saw the activity in the parking lot and did nothing about it. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/10 "2017-02-26T13:52:03Z")
I think this is pretty much impossible to determine from the facts presented. I can certainly imagine a case of wink-wink-nudge-nudge that should be addressed. And if this makes hotels everywhere paranoid about not reporting potential rape, I’m pretty okay with that. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-trafficking-victims-sue-hotel-where-they-were-held-say-it-should-have-known-what-was-up/780752/11 "2017-02-26T23:08:27Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > And if this makes hotels everywhere paranoid about not reporting potential rape, I’m pretty okay with that. According to the article a sign of what you think should be reported to and investigated as ‘potential rape’ is someone renting a hotel room for days at a time and refusing maid service during that time. That’s what I and the majority of people that I know do when they stay at hotels. I don’t want a police investigation launched every time I stay at a hotel, both because it’s a major privacy issue AND because it takes resources away from solving actual crimes, and as a bonus it will lead to the police not taking such reports from hotels seriously even if there’s substance to them.