“Operation Bad Traffic,” a cooperative undercover initiative by Houston-area law enforcement agencies, has led to nine area nightclubs being shut down for alleged human trafficking and promotion of prostitution.
According to a report by the Houston Chronicle, authorities said they have identified more than 80 human trafficking victims of the nightclubs’ sex trades.
Each of those nightclubs was “an actual house of horrors,” Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission chairman Kevin J. Lilly said at a news briefing in Houston on Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024.
Other agencies represented at the briefing included the Houston Police Department, Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance.
Lilly described “deplorable conditions” at the businesses. He said they appeared to be typical nightclubs or bars with pool tables and dance floors, but they also had hidden closet-sized rooms with cement floors and soiled mattresses.
Lilly said the victims included minors. He linked the illegal sex trade activities forced upon them to cartels across the Mexico border.
He said young women at the nightclubs were “run through an assembly line of horrific treatment and sexual abuse – some 30 times a day, from 4 in the afternoon until 2 in the morning.”
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said four arrest warrants also have been executed so far in connection with the busts, and all nine of the businesses targeted in “Operation Bad Traffic” will be shut down.
Only one nightclub was confirmed to be closed by the sting: La Condesa nightclub at 8810 Jensen Drive. The other eight–largely on the city’s north side–have not yet been named.
Gonzalez said narcotics trafficking also was ongoing at the businesses.
More details could not be released since the investigation remains ongoing.
Understanding child molestation offenses and Texas sex crime penalties
The Texas and U.S. legal systems impose severe punishments for sex offenses, with some convictions carrying sentences of 25 years to life without parole. Even after release, individuals may face restrictions, including mandatory sex offender registration and limits on living near schools or spending time around children.
Sting operations can cast overly wide nets
As the award-winning Neal Davis Law Firm has stated, such sex sting operations, though well-meaning, can cast overly wide nets that can wind up snaring innocent people.
The law firm notes that with so much human trafficking occurring in Texas, especially in Houston, sometimes innocent persons are arrested by authorities and charged with a crime they did not commit.
The firm’s human trafficking defense lawyers say overzealous prosecutors may accuse people of human trafficking while lacking enough evidence to do so. Such persons can face punishments including years in prison and high fines if convicted of sex crimes.
Law enforcement authorities also can make mistakes in interpreting Texas’ changing human trafficking laws, according to the Neal Davis Law Firm, which has developed a comprehensive state-by-state report on human trafficking laws and statistics.
If you or a family member face an unjust claim, accusation or charge of human trafficking or sex trafficking, contact the Neal Davis Law Firm today to arrange a confidential consultation for your case.
Sex trafficking occurs throughout the Houston area
Gonzalez said law enforcement groups continually conduct such surveillance operations at Operation Bad Traffic. Recent targets also have included the so-called “Bissonnet Track,” a stretch of Bissonnet Street in southwest Houston where prostitution and human trafficking reportedly have been rampant.
KPRC click2houston has described the area as a “1.3-mile stretch along Bissonnet between the Southwest Freeway and Sam Houston Parkway/Beltway 8.” It says the stretch “is known as an international hub for prostitution and human trafficking.”
Houston Police moved to shut down the area’s sex trade in June of 2023.
“No part of the county is spared,” Gonzalez says. “It can go on in many parts. In this (Operation Bad Traffic), we focused on east and northeast Harris County. But I can guarantee you… it’s happening everywhere.”
The Chronicle noted that human trafficking and prostitution have been long-standing issues for local law enforcement. It said the U.S. Department of Justice considers Houston a hotspot for sex trafficking in the nation.
A report by the University of Texas has indicated there are more than 300,000 victims of human trafficking in Texas, and almost 79,000 of them are under the age of 18.
Human trafficking victims can face legal action
Since many sex workers are, themselves, victims of human trafficking, with the sex trade forced upon them, there has been some pushback from those targeted by a 2018 civil lawsuit by Harris County against 50 alleged sex workers.
Human trafficking experts argued that the injunction was punitive by targeting persons who were unwilling victims of human trafficking.
However, the 13 alleged pimps and 23 alleged sex buyers who also were targeted by the civil injunction were more clearly vulnerable to being criminally charged with prostitution. (Under Texas law, a person can be charged with the crime of prostitution for buying sex as well as for selling sex.)
Texas has severe punishments for trafficking
Texas laws on trafficking largely establish that it is a second-degree felony, for which punishments can include a state prison sentence of 2 to 10 years and a fine of as much as $10,000.
However, trafficking can be elevated to a first-degree felony if the trafficking victim is a minor under the age of 18. Then, Texas punishments can include a state prison sentence of 5 to 99 years, or life, and a fine of up to $10,000. (The fine can be more if there are multiple counts of the trafficking crime.)
Sex sting legal defense strategies
With such severe punishments in mind, you should seek the best sex crime defense attorney and the best sex crime defense strategies you can find in order to protect your legal rights.
Such defense strategies can include establishing the “entrapment” of an alleged offender.
What is entrapment? Entrapment involves a law officer illegally provoking or persuading an otherwise law-abiding citizen to commit a crime that they otherwise could not be expected to have committed.
An additional possible sex sting defense strategy for those arrested in sex sting operations is to challenge the legality and conduct of the sting operation itself.
In this way, law enforcement procedures can be held up for scrutiny to determine if all of the evidence was collected and handled according to proper legal protocols.
How to choose the best criminal defense attorney for your case?
Criminal defense is a specialized field. Rather than relying on a lawyer who handles everything, find an attorney dedicated exclusively to criminal defense cases.
Falsely accused in a Texas sex sting?
Get a good defense attorney.
How do I find the best criminal defense attorney near me in Houston?
Call the Neal Davis Law Firm PLLC.
Neal Davis can review your case, identify procedural errors or rights violations that could be used to challenge an arrest or a charge, defend your rights and fight aggressive charges.
If you live in Houston, Sugar Land, Katy, Conroe, The Woodlands or elsewhere in Harris County, Fort Bend County or Montgomery County, contact us today.
Call or submit our online form to learn how we can work to have your charges reduced, dropped, or dismissed.
