Silver State Times

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) held a webinar Tuesday with global leaders in human trafficking and sexual exploitation advocacy to discuss details of how Nevada's legal prostitution industry has played a role in the state's remarkably high human trafficking and sexual exploitation numbers. 

NCOSE, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the abolition of child sexual abuse, sex trafficking, objectification and other forms of sexual trauma, is suing the state of Nevada for its alleged complacency in the illegal sex market occurring within its borders, NCOSE representative Kelly Oliver told Silver State Times. 

The advocates in the webinar were joined by two survivors of sexual exploitation, Bekah Charleston and Angela Williams, who are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Nevada. NCOSE officials said that the lawsuit could set precedent that is "history-making and potentially society-changing."

Charleston told the panel that she was prostituting legally through Nevada's brothel system, but was exploited into an illegal prostitution ring as a direct result of her employment at the brothel. Half of her lawfully acquired sex work income was taken by the brothel, and even more of Charleston's income was taken by the orchestrators of the illegal prostitution ring. 

The survivor said that if she wasn't performing enough, or adequately, she would be punished both in the brothel and out. She recalled having to sleep in the same bed where she provided sexual services. 

"I wasn't even allowed to leave the premises," Charleston said. "Every time I needed to leave to deposit money for my pimp it was like pulling teeth. [The brothels] have listening devices in the room, which they say is to keep you safe, but it's actually to make sure you're not stealing money."

The former sex worker said that the conditions of prostitution make it "a job unlike any other."

"The argument about it being safe and clean and somehow empowering because some of those women choose to be there... no," she said. "To say that the legal [prostitution] system reduces trafficking is just a lie. You're just a commodity. You're just a product."

Williams, the other sexual exploitation survivor, has prosecuted her abusers before, but realized after her first lawsuit that pressing charges against the traffickers wasn't enough when Nevada escort and prostitution services can get a business license and pay taxes to sell women. 

As a parent of a 15-year-old daughter, Williams is further horrified by the negative impact of the industry. 

"The thought of a high school being a hot spot [for sexual exploitation] is disgusting," Williams said. "I'm willing to sacrifice my story and my past for the voiceless. To prove the point that there are illegal activities going on in the state for the purpose of money."

Melissa Holland, a marriage and family therapist at the Awaken nonprofit group in Reno, has aided in the recovery of more than 600 sexual exploitation survivors in the last decade. She said that she's learned through the testimonies of her patients how harmful the sex trade industry is. 

"I've seen so many efforts to bring empowerment and equality to the movement," Holland said. "This lawsuit is a result of persisting this industry to address the harms of illegal sex trade in a state that has allowed it for 49 years."

The therapist told the panel that the nearly five decades' worth of data should provide enough evidence how the industry has harmed women and children. 

"Entire communities and generations have been groomed to normalize this," Holland said. "These women are allowed to be for sale. As a result, our whole state has become a sex tourism state."

A report from NCOSE titled "Prostitution: 'The Zone' of Raw Male Physical and Sexual Violence," states that more than 50% of prostituted women in a Canada study experienced sexual assault from buyers, including being raped a gunpoint, stabbed or cut.

According to a study called "The Human Trafficking Initiative," conducted by Creighton University in 2018, Nevada leads the nation for the sex trade market. Jason Guinasso, a member of the legal counsel team for NCOSE, said that there are misconceptions about where in Nevada prostitution is legal. With approximately 22 brothels across seven counties, sex trade isn't legal in Las Vegas or Reno, as most people would expect. However, with Nevada's brothels reportedly raking in more than $75 million in sales each year, the profitability of the legal market has spurred greed and consequential growth in the illegal one.

"The legal system has created a demand that ultimately results in an effort to meet that demand," Guinasso said. To meet that demand, the lawyer said that women are brought into the state to work in the sex economy—sometimes willingly, sometimes not. Overall he estimated that Vegas' escort services, strip clubs and other avenues generates more than $5 billion in related illegal sex trafficking sales. 

"Nevada's legal [prostitution] system is the direct and approximate cause of [sex trafficking survivors'] injuries," Guinasso said. "Our legal system commodifies women, and sometimes men, and creates both the expectation and the demand that women can be bought and sold legally. Legalization and [decriminalization] does not make prostitution safer."

Guinasso said the situation is made more sticky by the state's legal brothels paying less than a half of percent of the taxes they ought to. This means the counties where the sex facilities are located aren't benefiting financially as they should be. 

According to the legal official, Nevada responded to the charges with the statement that the state is "agnostic to the issue of legalization," and that it is up to Nevada counties to decide whether or not to legalize the sex work. 

Guinasso said that argument is a farce. 

"Nevada local governments are creatures of the state," he said. "Individual municipalities only have the powers specifically given to them by the state."

The lawsuit is currently in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where it is being "fiercely contested," NCOSE officials in the panel said. 

"This lawsuit has so much potential it could set precedent in the Ninth Circuit," NCOSE said.