The Department of State estimates that 27.6 million people are victims of human trafficking at any given time. Human trafficking is an umbrella term that encompasses forced labor and commercial sex, both of which are promoted using fraud or coercion. The illicit industry brings in $236 billion a year.
Journalist Brian Joseph emphasizes the severity of this issue in his latest book, Vegas Concierge: Sex Trafficking, Hip Hop and Corruption in America_. He describes it as "modern-day slavery—a nonpartisan, human-rights issue if there ever was one."_
While some prostitution involves paid sex between consenting parties, sex trafficking recognizes that fraud, coercion or force by a third party who benefits from their victims’ sexual acts often looms in the background of sex work. Traffickers often draw victims in by deceitfully offering them a good job or a love relationship, then isolate them from any outside source of support. Traffickers may subject their victims to sexual and physical violence—or threats against their loved ones—when they resist or try to leave. According to Joseph, the problem is compounded by the general public’s lack of understanding of how the trade works, who it affects and the misconception that its victims are willing participants who are morally corrupt and thus deserving of their plight.
Sex trafficking is a multi-pronged issue that also involves law enforcement. Focusing on the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, Joseph asserts that progress made by its Metropolitan Police Department in investigating and prosecuting sex trafficking has been undercut by media reports of as-yet unproven allegations that the city’s vice cops colluded with and profited from the very pimps and traffickers they were investigating.
For example, news outlets reported explosive court testimony by witnesses alleging that former vice detective Chris Baughman had been paid by hip-hop producer and pimp Mally Mall (real name: Jamal Rashid) to take down rival sex-for-hire operations, and that he had sex with some of Mall’s prostitutes. Rashid was sentenced in 2021 to three years in federal prison for running an interstate prostitution ring. Baughman, who invoked his Fifth Amendment rights when asked in court about possible collusion and misconduct in another convicted trafficker’s case, no longer works for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. A parallel FBI investigation into LVMPD corruption never resulted in any charges against him.
“Once you understand the realities of sex trafficking, you will have compassion for [victims] and that will lead to changes in our society that will help victims and survivors,” Joseph says.
Joseph spoke with A&E about why sex trafficking is a complicated problem and how victims are further harmed by public perception and widespread corruption.
What are some common myths about sex trafficking?
So many victims and survivors of sex traffickers are dismissed as immoral women, and that's not true.
The general public doesn't know who sex trafficking victims are and how they ended up in this lifestyle or the situations they find themselves in. On TV and in Hollywood, you see these two-dimensional characters that are oftentimes European women… are sold into slavery. That's not the story of domestic sex trafficking victims in America. What happens is much more complicated and tragic.
What are some of the obstacles law enforcement faces when investigating sex trafficking?
Some of the attorneys in Clark County [Nevada] used the phrase, 'No face, no case.' Amongst prosecutors, there's a general belief you need a victim's testimony to put a trafficker away, that you need at least one victim who's willing to come out and speak about what she experienced at the hands of this trafficker. Due to social stigmas and trauma, many victims and survivors are not willing or even able to speak to a police officer—let alone in a courtroom—about what they've experienced.
There are ways to make circumstantial cases against traffickers. For instance, a trafficker's association with known prostitutes, or a trafficker's lifestyle that does not logically flow from the trafficker's known or legal sources of income.
Prosecutors aren't comfortable making those types of cases to juries because it's believed that the general public doesn't understand the kinds of traumas [victims] go through. It makes it hard to prosecute these cases.
What makes sex trafficking in Nevada and Las Vegas so prevalent relative to other areas?
The biggest difference between Vegas and other cities is that Nevada has legal prostitution—not in Vegas and not in the Reno area—but in its rural communities. So you have people coming to Vegas thinking prostitution is legal everywhere in Nevada, including Vegas.
The casinos, a big attraction in Vegas, have zero incentive to correct tourists of this misconception. [Casinos] don't want [sex workers] to leave. They have an economic incentive to turn a blind eye to trafficking activity and prostitution that occurs in Vegas. Casinos are the most powerful force in Nevada. Their influence can directly or indirectly lead to other entities turning a blind eye to this as well.
In your book, you claim the Las Vegas police's vice unit had no credibility with prostitutes and sex workers, which made it harder to charge sex traffickers. How did it get to that point?
Under [the head of the vice unit's pandering investigations team,] Donald Hoier's Team] leadership and the guidance of his superior, Karen Hughes, there was a period where it seemed like things were improving.
During that time, vice—the primary law enforcement agency handling sex trafficking in Vegas— built a reputation for compassion toward victims and survivors, and this positive message was getting out.
However, the situation changed with the news coverage surrounding [the vice division’s Pandering Investigations Detective] Christopher Baughman and the Mally Mall scandal, [in which media outlets reported that Baughman allegedly admitted to having sex with prostitutes who were deemed victims, in addition to taking his teen daughter to the producer’s home to meet a famous pop singer].
It significantly impacted the community's perception of vice. The innuendo and controversy led to a widespread belief in Vegas that vice is not trustworthy.
