Corpus Christi law firm representing human trafficking survivor suing Backpage.com, hotels

A human trafficking survivor who filed suit against Backpage.com, as well as hotels and truck stops where she was allegedly exploited, is being represented by a Corpus Christi law firm.

Sico Hoelscher Harris & Braugh is representing a woman who alleges that Backpage.com and several national hotel and truck stop companies benefited from her sexual exploitation in violation of anti-trafficking laws in Texas.

The case was filed in state district court in Harris County, a news release from the law firm states.

“Sex trafficking of minors has exploded in the last decade as a result of the internet marketplace of sexual assault and sexual exploitation created by the Backpage

defendants," the petition reads. "The truck stop defendants knowingly benefitted from the trafficking and sexual exploitation of Jane Doe #1 as well as the sexual exploitation of other children... Human trafficking and the sexual exploitation is a rampant and known problem in the hotel industry.”

The lawsuit alleges the survivor began to be exploited as a 15-year-old in 2014 and 2015 at the Houston-area hotels truck stops that are defendants in the lawsuit, through the use of “sanitized” Backpage ads that “conceal child human trafficking.”

“We hope this lawsuit will help force the hotel and truck stop industries to

adopt effective anti-trafficking policies, train their staffs to recognize illicit activity and

establish safe and secure human trafficking reporting systems," said David E. Harris of Sico Hoelscher Harris & Braugh.