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An off-color joke by a senior regional manager at Red Roof Inn about “pimps and hos” became a key piece of evidence against the hotel chain at a historic sex trafficking trial in Atlanta.
Red Roof Inn, one of the nation’s largest budget hotel chains, is facing dozens of lawsuits from victims of sex trafficking who accuse the company of ignoring obvious signs of their abuse at its hotels.
One of those lawsuits, filed by 11 women who said they were trafficked at two Red Roof Inn hotels in Atlanta, contained an email from a regional vice president of operations who joked that “my pimps and hos love them some snacks to go with their smokes.”
Jay Moyer, a manager responsible for two Atlanta hotels at the center of the trial, made the joke about upgrades to one of the hotels. In a deposition, he said that he may have been quoting a customer review.
But attorneys representing the plaintiffs said it nevertheless showed the company was aware that the hotel “regularly rented rooms to suspected prostitutes and pimps.”
It became a key piece of evidence in the lawsuit, one that aimed to demonstrate the company had knowledge of sex trafficking at Red Roof Inn and did nothing to stop it.
Red Roof Inn said in a statement that it “denies all allegations” in the Atlanta lawsuit and “condemns prostitution and sex trafficking in all forms.” It also claimed to have “taken steps to mitigate criminal activity at Red Roof properties,” without clarifying further.
Red Roof Inn settled its case with the plaintiffs eight days into the trial last month, but it is facing dozens of similar lawsuits from sex trafficking victims alleging the same.
An investigation by The Independent has found that at least 42 federal lawsuits are underway against the hotel chain and its franchisees. Hundreds more victims are in the process of filing legal action, according to attorneys working on their cases.
The lawsuits, and the cases yet to be filed, span the length and breadth of the country, across 39 states and at least 115 Red Roof Inn hotels.
The plaintiffs filed their lawsuits under a 2008 law that allows victims of sex trafficking to seek civil damages against any entity or individual that knowingly profited from the trafficking activities.
The victims, some of whom were underage at the time, accuse the company of allowing its rooms to be rented on a grand scale to sex traffickers who forced them into commercial sex work and controlled nearly every aspect of their lives.
If you or someone you know is experiencing human trafficking and is in need of support, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline by calling 1-888-373-7888, by texting 233733, or online via webchat athumantraffickinghotline.org. The hotline operates 24/7 and help is available in 200 languages. All calls are confidential.
If you have any information relating to this story or other cases of trafficking that you would like to share, please contact richard.hall@independent.co.uk
