Doll House case still unclear

It could take months to determine how many of the 25 women found working as prostitutes in Las Vegas brothels during a recent bust are human trafficking victims, police said this week.

“We know of more than one … tricked into coming here and thought they were going to be working legitimate,” Lt. Dave Logue, who headed the investigation for the Metropolitan Police Department’s Criminal Intelligence Section, said Thursday. “We are still continuing to interview them. It’s not something that happens overnight.”

The April 21 bust came after a two-year investigation by police and federal authorities into a prostitution ring with ties to Asia. The investigation, dubbed Operation Doll House, netted eight arrests.

The FBI told the Review-Journal on Wednesday that none of the 25 women caught up in the bust was a victim of human trafficking.

“They were all there voluntarily,” said Dave Staretz, chief division counsel for the FBI’s Las Vegas field office. “They expressed they were happy with the money they were making.”

But on Friday, Staretz said the FBI couldn’t rule out the “potential for human trafficking” in the case.

“To date, we have no evidence that they (the women) were there against their will. That’s not to say that human trafficking won’t be uncovered in the future.”

Logue wouldn’t say exactly how many of the women he believed to be victims of human trafficking.

But, he said, the FBI is aware of the “more than one” victim.

“We are definitely on the same page,” he said.

Police said most of the women came from Asian countries and speak little or no English. If they are human trafficking victims, officials say they will qualify for special “T visas” and will not be deported. Such victims can eventually apply for green cards.

But Staretz also told the Review-Journal on Wednesday that all but one of the women were “here apparently on tourist visas.”

“They’re all here legitimately,” he said.

Logue said he was surprised by Staretz’s statements.

“The majority of the girls absolutely were here illegally,” he said.

When asked again Friday whether the women were in the United States illegally or legally, Staretz referred the question to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Lori Haley, an ICE spokeswoman, said she could only give out information on the women if she had their names, and then would only be able to say whether ICE had the women in custody.

Las Vegas police said the women have not been arrested or charged with any crime and are free to leave the city if they wish.

Capt. Csaba Maczala, who heads the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homeland Security Bureau, said he also was surprised by Staretz’s statements that the women were not trafficking victims and that most of them were in the country legally.

“Seventy-five to 80 percent were illegal aliens,” Maczala said.

Asked why he thought the FBI said there were no trafficking victims, Maczala said: “They probably don’t want to compromise the case.”

Staretz stood by his statements Friday.

“We have not uncovered any human trafficking victim,” he said.

Staretz also said that on the day of the bust, some of the women had their own cars and passports, which he said may mean they were willingly working at the brothels.

He said that none of the women was identified as a human trafficking victim on the day of the raids.

He added, “We’re hoping if these women were held against their will and it’s not voluntary, that they do come forward.”

Logue said victims were identified after the bust.

“We are still continuing to interview them,” he said. “It didn’t stop with that night.”

Those who work with victims of human trafficking said victims often won’t immediately admit they have been trafficked.

“The girls, when you first interview them, they’re not going to say, ‘Yeah, I’m a trafficking victim,'” Lauren Hermosillo, a Salvation Army social worker, said earlier in the week.

That’s because the women are operating out of fear, she said.

“Their pimp is saying, ‘If you say that (you’re a victim), I’m going to kill you and your family.’ So they tell law enforcement a different story.”

The Salvation Army has received a $450,000 federal grant to help trafficking victims.

Logue told the Review-Journal in initial reports that he thought the women would be deported.

But this week, Logue said he didn’t know whether that was so.

“I’m not an expert on immigration laws,” he said. “Since most (of the women) are here illegally and have no type of immigration status, it would be my belief” that they would be deported.

He added that he didn’t know much about T visas.

Marie Sebrechts, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles T visa applications, said only law enforcement officials can certify whether someone is a victim of human trafficking.

“They have to provide certification that the individual is a victim of human trafficking who is cooperating with law enforcement,” she said.

The process takes a few months, she said.

Last year, a new office, the Anti-Trafficking League Against Slavery, or ATLAS, opened within the Metropolitan Police Department to combat human trafficking in the valley. The FBI is a member of ATLAS.

Hermosillo said some of the confusion surrounding the women caught up in Operation Doll House may stem from the fact that ATLAS was recently launched.

“Like anything, it’s a new project, and mistakes are made along the way,” she said.

Hermosillo also said it can take a long time for victims of human trafficking to tell their stories.

“We’ve seen where it’s taken months or a year,” she said. “You can’t pressure them, that’s the same way the traffickers are treating them.”