SlaveryMap

Seattle, Washington, United States

For many years, 5 Seattle men, 1 man from Portland, and a man and a woman from LA lured young women from Asia with the promise of a better life in the US, only to make them sex slaves in 3 brothels in Seattle and 1 in Portland. The women were brought from all over Asia - China, Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia, Laos, Thailand - and had no idea they would be forced into prostitution. The 5 men from Seattle are: Jonny Cong Wu Phui Dang Shek Yu Ng De Qin Zhang He Qingping The woman from LA, Yuen Lam, is accused of supplying women to brothels nationwide, as well as the three discovered in Seattle and one in Portland. The prostitution ring would move the women between cities about every other week; the women were never allowed to leave the brothel, except when changing locations. The brothel at this location (Vantage Park Apartments) was run by Wu, and security camera tapes that show about 20 customers per day; the going rate was about $120 per visit at all three brothels. Ng ran another brothel on 31st Ave South, near SeaTac Airport. Zhang and Qingping ran another brothel in the Jeffrey Apartments, 167 11th Ave - about a block from the Vantage Park apartments.

Location
United States · Seattle, Washington · 2002 (location generalized to protect survivors)
Response & intervention
Federal agents and Seattle police investigated this case for two years before make the raid and arrests on Tuesday September 17, 2002. Authorities say they had difficulty breaking the ring in part because it involved a tight-knit group that served only Asian men -- and that all new customers had to be escorted by someone known to the pimps. It is unknown what happened to the victims of this trafficking ring. For more information about this case, please see: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/87681_fbi19.shtml AND http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20020919&slug=prostitution19m This prostitution ring was first uncovered by a Seattle police detective who was looking into organized crime in August 2000.

Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). Use “Report a problem” below to add a source or flag an issue.

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