Hearing witness says Nevada is haven for sex traffickers

CARSON CITY -- Because of its legal brothel industry, Nevada is a haven for sex traffickers who force young girls and boys into prostitution, a witness said Wednesday during a hearing on a bill to help the young victims begin normal lives.

"People know because prostitution is legal in some places in Nevada, and they think they can get away with it (sex trafficking)," said Jill Morris, an advocate for the Not for Sale campaign.

Morris was among a host of supporters who testified in favor of Assembly Bill 6, which would allow female and male victims of sex trafficking, no matter their age, to petition courts to have records of their prostitution and related convictions vacated.

The bill's sponsor, Assemblyman John Hambrick, R-Las Vegas, said this is important because, when former prostitutes seek to go straight and find regular employment, they now must report arrests for prostitution on their applications.

"They can't explain that away," Hambrick said. "They don't get hired and they again are victims. These are people who have prostituted 10 to 15 times a day by their pimps."

No action was taken on the bill, although Judiciary Chairman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, voiced his support. It must be passed out of the committee by April 15, or it is dead for the rest of the session.

Boys and girls as young as 12, many of them foreigners, are forced into prostitution, said Julie Janovsky, a representative of the Polaris Project, a national group combating human trafficking.

She said sex trafficking worldwide is a $32 billion business, second only to drug trafficking among illegal ventures.

"Some of the victims have daily quotas of $500 to $1,200 a night," she said. "If they don't meet them, they are abused or tortured or even starved. They suffer severe physical and psychological trauma."

But the most unsettling part of the testimony may have been Morris' statement that Las Vegas and Reno are havens for sex trafficking because of legal prostitution in nearby rural counties.

During a speech before the Legislature on Feb. 22, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., received a silent reaction when he called for legislators to end legal prostitution.

Hambrick said following Wednesday's hearing that he supports the current law that allows prostitution in rural counties by local option. There are 24 legal brothels.

George Flint, the lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Association, testified in favor of Hambrick's bill.

He said the legal brothels "do not hire underage girls" or have anything to do with pimps. But he said 5,000 people were arrested last year in Clark County for prostitution.

"You are not going to do away with prostitution, no matter what you do," Flint added.

He said he knew a former Wyoming prostitute who struggled for more than 10 years in finding straight employment because of her prostitution background.

Las Vegas police lobbyist Chuck Callaway said his department supports the bill because it would "help turn around lives of victims of human trafficking."

Larry Struve, a representative for the Religious Alliance of Nevada (RAIN), which represents major churches, called the bill compassionate legislation.

"RAIN is about redemption, giving people an opportunity to turn their lives around and be whole again," he said.