Multiple King County Motel 6’s being sued for allegedly allowing sex trafficking
Apr 19, 2024, 6:50 AM | Updated: 9:43 am
Sign for a Motel 6 in King County. (Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
(Photo courtesy of KIRO 7)
Three Motel 6 locations in King County are being sued for allegedly allowing, facilitating, profiting and concealing sex trafficking on the premises.
The lawsuit alleges this occurred from 2015 to 2023.
Led by a Bothell woman, the suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, implicating the motel chain, its parent company and connected companies had knowledge of sex trafficking on motel premises.
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The plaintiff in the lawsuit alleged traffickers rented rooms to imprison and traffic her and others at certain Motel 6 locations. This occurred so often, according to the plaintiff, that employees at the Motel 6s would be on a first-name basis with her and her trafficker.
The three Motel 6 locations in the lawsuit are located in SeaTac at 20651 Military Road South, 16500 Pacific Highway South and 18900 47th Avenue South.
“All the signs were there, all the red flags were there, and they did nothing to stop it,” Katie Llamas, an attorney in the case, told KIRO 7. “These hotels and hotel motels know what’s going on. They know that they’re being trafficked, they know this isn’t consensual prostitution. And they’re allowing it to go on.”
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“There is nothing more important to us than the safety and well-being of our guests, our team members and the communities in which we operate,” G6 Hospitality, the parent company of Motel 6, said in a statement to KIRO 7. “We condemn all forms of human trafficking and have a zero-tolerance policy against it. Trafficking of people violates basic human rights and is a global societal problem.”
Backpage, a classified advertising website, and the software company Salesforce were named in the lawsuit for allegedly facilitating sex trafficking on several occasions.
Contributing: KIRO 7
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.
