Three years ago the U.S. Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph told its event planner that it would only book a hotel with an anti-human trafficking policy for its national conferences. Its stand is having a positive impact in St. Louis, a city identified in a 2006 U.S. Department of Justice report as "one of the nation's intensive hubs for human trafficking."
The following article by Nancy Cambria appeared on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and on www.stltoday.com on Sunday, January 29, 2012.
Over the past eight years, Kimberly Ritter has scoped out some of the poshest hotels around the country for potential meetings and conferences.
But the Maplewood-based event planner this year has been on the lookout for something grim under all that polish.
Now, after check-in, she pulls out her laptop and a copy of the local alternative newspaper. She turns to the advertisements for private massages and personal escorts. She finds ones that include website addresses and picks out about 10. Then she finds their pictures on the Internet.
Ritter's not looking at the girls and guys covertly advertising sex for cash, but the tiny details in the background of the photos.
Many times she sees something familiar in the curtain patterns and bedspreads in the photos. Sometimes she looks up from her computer screen and sees identical furniture in her own hotel room. READ MORE
The following article by Nancy Cambria appeared on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and on www.stltoday.com on Sunday, January 29, 2012.
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| The Millenium Hotel is the first in the area to sign a code of conduct to protect children from sex trafficking. Photo courtesy of Millennium Hotel |
But the Maplewood-based event planner this year has been on the lookout for something grim under all that polish.
Now, after check-in, she pulls out her laptop and a copy of the local alternative newspaper. She turns to the advertisements for private massages and personal escorts. She finds ones that include website addresses and picks out about 10. Then she finds their pictures on the Internet.
Ritter's not looking at the girls and guys covertly advertising sex for cash, but the tiny details in the background of the photos.
Many times she sees something familiar in the curtain patterns and bedspreads in the photos. Sometimes she looks up from her computer screen and sees identical furniture in her own hotel room. READ MORE
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