Cook County Sheriff’s officers working to bust a human trafficking ring rescued three Southeast Asian women who were being kept as prostitutes against their will in Schiller Park.
The women all had tourist visas and had been in the country for only three weeks. The had their passports confiscated by their captors and were told they had to make $60,000 before they would be returned.
Sheriff Tom Dart, who made national news early last year by announcing that he was going after Craigslist escorts, announced in a press release that his department was joining with federal investigators to return the women to their home country.
The women were rescued Thursday afternoon after sheriff’s police responded to an ad promoting a “super model, hot, sexy Asian bombshell visiting.”
A woman answering a local cell phone number said sex would cost $160.
An undercover officer followed her instructions and went to a Schiller Park motel where a girl was waiting for him. When the officer entered the room, a 23-year-old woman immediately attempted to begin having sex with him.
After other officers came into the room, she was questioned and revealed that other women were being kept in nearby rooms. All three were then detained and brought to the sheriff’s police department for questioning
They said when they left Thailand three weeks ago, they were told a limousine would be waiting for them outside a New York airport and its driver had instructions to take them to a nearby motel. The same scenario was repeated in each city they visited. They followed strict orders to not leave their motel rooms until “Anne” had given them orders to leave for a new city.
Sheriff’s police continue to investigate the ring and its operators, as they work with federal authorities and the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation to find transitional housing and, ultimately, a return trip home for the women. The women will not be charged with a crime.
