Four Minnesotans Indicted After Feds Bust Alleged International Sex Ring

An indictment unsealed late Tuesday in St. Paul, Minnesota, charges 17 members of an international sex trafficking organization with transporting hundreds of female Thai sex slaves from Thailand and trafficking them throughout the United States.

The charged defendants include 12 Thai nationals and five U.S. nationals, including four from the Twin Cities.

Two of the four Minnesotans indicted have not yet been arrested, and authorities have not released their names.

Eleven of the 17 charged defendants were arrested yesterday at various locations in Minnesota, California, Illinois, Georgia and Hawaii. One charged defendant was previously arrested in Belgium. Four defendants remain at large, according to a news release.

“Human trafficking is a degrading crime that undermines our nation's most basic promises of liberty and security,” said Attorney General Lynch in a statement.

“This case demonstrates the Justice Department’s determination to hold traffickers accountable and to help the survivors of this appalling practice reclaim their freedom and dignity. As part of our nationally recognized Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team Initiative, the District of Minnesota is playing a crucial role in those vital efforts, and I want to commend all of the team members whose cooperation led to today’s action.”

“The 17 people charged in this indictment ran a highly sophisticated sex trafficking scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger.

“They promised women in Thailand a chance at the American dream, but instead exploited them, coerced them and forced them to live a nightmare. In short, the victims lived like modern day sex slaves. Today’s indictment is our ninth sex trafficking case since 2014, but it is the first that targets an entire organization. We will continue to work closely with our federal and local law enforcement partners to target and dismantle these types of far-reaching organizations.”

According to the indictment, since at least 2009, the criminal organization has trafficked at least hundreds of women, which the organization refers to as “flowers,” from Bangkok, Thailand, to various cities across the United States, including Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas and Austin. Once in the United States, victims are placed in houses of prostitution where they are forced to work long hours – often all day, every day – having sex with strangers, authorities say.

The victims are not allowed to leave the prostitution houses unless accompanied by a member of the criminal organization, according to investigators.

New Report Spotlights Minnesota's Labor Trafficking Problem

Victims are often from impoverished backgrounds and speak little English and recruiters exploit these vulnerabilities during the recruitment process, authorities say. Victims are promised access to a better life in the United States, in exchange for an exorbitant “bondage debt” of between $40,000 and $60,000.

According to the indictment, before being transported to the United States, the organization would allegedly typically arrange to have professional-quality escort-style photographs taken of the victims, which would ultimately be sent to traffickers in the United States and used to advertise the victims for sex on websites like backpage.com and eros.com. The organization also allegedly encouraged victims to have breast implants in Thailand to make the victims “more appealing” to potential sex buyers in the United States, investigators say. The cost of the cosmetic surgery was added to the victims’ bondage debt.

Woodbury Woman Charged in 'Slavery' of Nanny, A Chinese National

The organization engaged in widespread visa fraud to facilitate the international transportation of the victims, according to the indictment. Members of the criminal organization assisted the victims in obtaining fraudulent visas and travel documents. As a part of obtaining visa documents, members of the criminal conspiracy gathered personal information from the victims, including the location of the victims’ families in Thailand. This information was later used to threaten victims who became non-compliant or tried to flee the organization in the United States, authorities say.

Sumalee Intarathong, also known as “Joy,” served as a boss/trafficker before her arrest in Belgium on Aug. 5, 2016, according to the indictment. Each trafficked victim was “owned” by Intarathong or another boss/trafficker, until the victim could repay the bondage debt. The trafficker arranged for victims to travel from Thailand to the United States and placed the victims in a house of prostitution somewhere in the United States.

Investigators say other members of the criminal organization served as “house bosses,” who owned one or more of the houses of prostitution to which the flowers were trafficked. House bosses were responsible for day-to-day operations of the houses of prostitution they controlled, which included advertising the “flowers” for commercial sex, maintaining the houses of prostitution, scheduling sex buyers, and ensuring that a significant portion of the money earned by the victims was routed back to the trafficker/boss to pay down the bondage debt. The house boss kept the remainder of the money earned by the victim. The victim was not allowed to keep any money, except for the occasional tip offered by a sex buyer.

Other members of the criminal organization serve as “facilitators,” authorities say. These individuals were primarily responsible for laundering the criminal proceeds of the organization and for directing the movement of victims within the United States.

According to the indictment, others among the co-conspirators served as “runners.” The runners were typically men who were paid, in part, in sex with the victims. Runners accompanied the victims anytime they were permitted to leave a house of prostitution. Victims were allowed to obtain personal items, to travel at the direction of the criminal organization, or to deposit money into bank accounts set up by the organization for the victims to repay their bondage debt. Runners were also sometimes asked to rent hotel rooms, apartments or other facilities for the organization.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, Diplomatic Security Service, St. Paul Police Department, Anoka County Sheriff’s Office and Cook County Sheriff’s Office, with the support of the International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center (IOC-2).

The District of Minnesota is one of six districts designated through a competitive, nationwide selection process as a Phase II Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam), through the interagency ACTeam Initiative of the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Labor. ACTeams focus on developing high-impact human trafficking investigations and prosecutions involving forced labor, international sex trafficking and sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion through interagency collaboration among federal prosecutors and federal investigative agencies.

Defendant Information, per the indictment:

Boss/Trafficker

Sumalee Intarathong, also known as “Joy,” 55

Liege, Belgium (Incarcerated)
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Sex trafficking by use of force, fraud, and coercion, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit forced labor, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit visa fraud, 1 count

House Bosses

Chabaprai Boonluea, 42
Winder, Ga.
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Sex trafficking by use of force, fraud, and coercion, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit forced labor, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

Watcharin Luamseejun, 46
Residence unknown
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit forced labor, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

Pantilla Rodpholka, 31
Mount Prospect, Ill
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit forced labor, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

Facilitators

Noppawan Lerslurchachai, 35
Lomita, Calif.
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Sex trafficking by use of force, fraud, and coercion, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit forced labor, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

Khanong Intharathong, 44
Dunwoody, Ga.
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

Andrew Flanigan, 51
Winder, Ga.
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

Patcharaporn Saengkham, 41
Los Angeles, Calif.
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit visa fraud, 1 count

Supapon Sonprasit, 31
St. Paul, MN
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit visa fraud, 1 count

Runners

Thi Vu, 48
Atlanta, Ga.
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

Todd Vassey, 54
Lahanina, Hawaii
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

John Zbracki, 59
Lakeville, MN
Charges:

• Conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, 1 count
• Conspiracy to commit transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Transportation to engage in prostitution, 1 count
• Conspiracy to engage in money laundering, 1 count
• Conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution, 1 count

Image via Shutterstock