| Updated: 2/02 10:41 am |
Published: 2/01 6:43 pm
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A sex slave network is uncovered right here in Tulsa. Women forced into prostitution with dozens of customers forced on them every day.
When you think of sex trafficking, you think about it happening in other countries, and certainly not in your own backyard. Thanks to members of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigation agents, at least one victim is now free.
One January 18th agents from Houston learned a woman was being held at the Cimarron Apartment Complex at 13105 E. 31st.
“We know it exists in our culture and we know its happening. The hard part about infiltrating sex trafficking industries is everything goes on behind closed doors,” says Sgt. Shannon Clark with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.
The victim, who we’ll call Jane Doe, says she is in this country illegally and being forced into prostitution.
Mark Elam works with Oath, Oklahomans against the Trafficking of Humans. “She thinks she's going to work as a waitress but then she gets here and they put her into forced prostitution. They threaten her and they threaten her family,” says Elam.
Somehow, she’s able to text the address of where she is to a friend, who then tells HSI agents. Tulsa County Sheriff’s deputies along with federal agents from Houston staked out the apartment complex and saw dozens of men going to and from the building.
When the John arrives, he hands over the cash; in exchange he receives a colored poker chip. Depending on the color of that chip, that’s what type of sex act the sex slave will perform.
Glenn Tucker lives in the apartment complex and was there the day agents stormed the building. He says he saw many men go into the apartment, stay for 20 minutes then leave.
"Well, maybe it was just a big family, but it would have been a huge family with the number of guys that were coming in and out of there all the time,” says Tucker.
Jane Doe got a message to the agents that she would place a black high-heeled shoe in the window, so that they would know which apartment she was in.
On January 19th, the agents raided the apartment.
“Officers went inside and brought two male Hispanics outside and questioned them,” says Tucker.
Inside, they found Jane Doe in extreme pain. She tells the deputies and agents she was forced to inject herself with an unknown drug and its making her sick. Money, cell phones, poker chips, condoms and other items were also found inside the apartment.
“She collects the tokens all night to prove what she's done and to show that she's trying to work off the debt that she owes,” says Elam.
Jane Doe does not speak English, but was able to communicate through an interpreter. She told investigators that she was forced to service up to 22 men a day. After she was rescued, she was taken to the hospital to be treated for extreme physical and emotional issues.
This is still an ongoing federal investigation and agents believe even more women are being held captive in the Tulsa and surrounding areas.
Over the course of this investigation, four men were arrested locally. Antonio Velazquez-Lopez and Ignacio Ijom-Brito, along with two others were taken into custody. The men are being held for human trafficking and immigration issues.
