{"id":408382,"date":"2026-09-23T16:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408382\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T16:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T16:30:20","slug":"lawsuit-accuses-orlando-hotel-operator-of-enabling-sex-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408382\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit accuses Orlando hotel operator of enabling sex trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Two women who say they were forced into sex trafficking for years are suing the operator of an Orlando hotel, alleging the business knowingly rented rooms to their trafficker and benefited from the crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The lawsuit, filed in Orange County Circuit Court, identifies the women by the initials J.G. and A.M.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Capital Investment Orlando Inc., which operates the Days Inn at 3300 S. Orange Blossom Trail, is the only defendant named in the litigation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The women allege they were abducted, drugged, beaten and forced to perform commercial sex acts at the hotel by an unnamed sex trafficker from 2015 through 2022. They estimate they stayed at the property 500 to 600 times, sometimes for days or weeks at a time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The plaintiffs\u2019 attorney, Anthony Chiarello, spoke generally to News 6 about hotel operators that he claims profit from sex trafficking. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cThey know what\u2019s going on,\u201d Chiarello told News 6. \u201cIt\u2019s actually part of their business plan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">According to the complaint, the women\u2019s trafficker and his associates used the hotel rooms, parking lot, and Wi-Fi while advertising the women for commercial sex. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The complaint also describes alleged warning signs visible to hotel staff, including frequent short-term visitors, little or no luggage, visible injuries, drug use, loud arguments, and sexual activity in and around the property. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cThey know if they create this safe space where the traffickers can feel safe and feel like they\u2019re protected from the police, they\u2019re going to stay,\u201d said Chiarello. \u201cAnd they are going to come back again and again and again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The lawsuit points to online reviews posted by other guests that referenced prostitution. In several responses cited in the complaint, hotel representatives apologized for guests\u2019 experiences and said their concerns had been shared with management or staff.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cWhat you never see is, \u2018We\u2019ll take care of the actual prostitution or trafficking that you saw,\u2019\u201d Chiarello said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Capital Investment Orlando Inc. denies the allegations and says in court filings that it had no knowledge of any alleged sex trafficking. <\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">If an incident occurred, the company argues that the plaintiffs failed to take steps to avoid it, including using telephones in the rooms to call for help.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">The plaintiffs seek damages under the federal 2008 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. The law provides for penalties against those who knowingly benefit financially from sex trafficking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, which owns the Days Inn brand and licenses it to franchise operators, is not named as a defendant. The company did not respond to an opportunity to comment on this story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net\/_8a2f31a2e6b6dc4172d5c79ef9398327\/wyndhamhotels\/db\/2270\/23448\/file\/Modern+Slavery+Statement.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">A statement about modern slavery on Wyndham\u2019s website<\/a> says the company provides franchisees with human-trafficking prevention and awareness training.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">Chiarello, whose law firm Victim\u2019s Voice only represents sex trafficking victims, told News 6 he is pursuing lawsuits against other Orlando-area hotels on behalf of the same two women.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-dLMFU sc-fHjqPf jbiTJv kYFPaL article-text\">\u201cIf they\u2019re not gonna comply with these rules, well then they should go out of business,\u201d Chiarello said of hotels that knowingly profit from sex trafficking. \u201cI have no real sympathy for them there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/help.clickorlando.com\/new\/?category=71\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img alt=\"\"  loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" role=\"presentation\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790181020_811_2YVXLEUGVVB7BC4UYNYLEYPUWY.png\"\/><\/a>Click to contact the News 6 Investigators. (Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 Two women who say they were forced into sex trafficking for years are suing the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2026,1335,139,141,140],"class_list":["post-408382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-investigators","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}