Sex trafficking: Is it happening in Merced?

A row of old motels and businesses line West 16th Street in Merced, calling little attention to the area during the daytime.

But when the sun sets, the street comes alive with activity. Women wearing short skirts and ripped tights stand in the doorways of motel rooms. An open curtain in another room reveals a half-naked woman waiting inside.

Cars begin to gather nearby, parking facing the motel rooms, with the lights turned off. Men inside the cars are sitting, watching and waiting. Other groups of men – and sometimes older women – stand in front of the motels, stern looks on their faces as they talk on their cellphones.

What is happening on West 16th Street is believed to be sex trafficking, a crime many assume only happens in big cities or some far-away countries – not in their own backyards.

But according to several experts and law enforcement officials, human trafficking is happening in Merced. And the only way to stop it is through awareness and education.

Teri and Lou Reyes, a longtime Merced couple, said they have spent two years trying to do just that. With Bibles in hand, they walk West 16th Street several times a week, praying for the women who work the street. Sometimes the women stop and pray with them, breaking down in tears.

For one month, the couple hesitantly took a Merced Sun-Star reporter with them on the journey. They were hesitant because they thought it could be dangerous. The pimps make a profit off the girls, and experts say interrupting that is equivalent to stealing money from them.

“The men don’t want us out there because that’s their business you’re taking, their livelihood,” said Teri Reyes, 54, wrapping her coat around herself as she walked down the street. “I’ve seen the business aspect of it. They make money off of somebody’s misery.”

In the years she and her husband have walked the street, she said she’s seen it all – women beating up one other, men pulling up to the sidewalk and negotiating a price for sex while others try luring the girls into their trucks.

Only three girls have broken down to Reyes, begging for help and a way out. And two of those girls soon disappeared, she said.

“Once they’re bold enough to talk to us, the pimps think they’re bold enough to run. They move them to another town,” Reyes said. “New girls appear at least once a month.”

By the time Reyes corners the end of the block, a red truck circles nearby, passing several times while a man peers out the window. The same truck makes a circle and passes again.

“We’re messing with their girls. They can’t come out and make money,” Reyes said, glancing at the vehicle. “They’re trying to work. So they want to intimidate us so we can leave. They’re losing money.”

“But I hope I’m making them miserable by being there,” she continued, “because I’ll keep going until God tells me not to go.”

Beatings described

Caydee Mawhorr said she spent nearly a decade working as a prostitute and living at the Gateway and Siesta motels on West 16th Street. Though it was her own decision to sell her body, she saw plenty of girls who she said didn’t have a choice.

Many of the girls were from different cities and states, Mawhorr said, and were brought to Merced as part of a sex-trafficking ring. And when they tried to escape from their pimps, Mawhorr said, they would pay the price.

“I knew when they tried to get away because they’d come back with a broken jaw or beat up,” Mawhorr said. “One of them was in front of the motel and I snuck her into my room. And they came looking for her and said, ‘She’s mine.’”

Mawhorr said many of the girls were underage, and that garnered an even higher price for the johns. Men in their 40s and 50s would ask Mawhorr to “hook them up” with girls 16 years old or younger – agreeing to pay more money for them.

Mawhorr said she got paid anywhere from $20 to $200 for various sexual acts, including staying overnight with men. But she also got beaten, shot, stabbed and raped by some of the guys.

Despite making up to $1,200 a day, Mawhorr said, she decided to stop being a prostitute after she was physically assaulted. But she said there are young girls stuck in that lifestyle, forced to continue selling their bodies and living in fear of their pimps.

“It is happening,” Mawhorr said. “There are children out there that are forced to do things they don’t want to do, but they don’t know how to get out. I’ve seen it.”

Police: Growing problem

Although most sex trafficking incidents happen near the motels on West 16th Street, police say it’s spreading to other parts of town.

“I think it’s happening all over the city in different varying degrees,” Merced police Capt. Tom Trindad said. “Most people think sex slave trade happens in bigger cities, but it happens in Merced.”

To keep up with the growing problem, Trindad said, Merced police officers received video training on spotting the signs of sex trafficking. At least four trafficking incidents in the past year have involved minors, he said, and in those cases the person is removed from the situation and offered counseling services.

The Police Department collaborates with the county’s mental health and child protective services to provide support.

The department also worked with the District Attorney’s Office to file an injunction against the Siesta Motel, requiring it to install cameras and barring it from renting to a list of known offenders. Deputy District Attorney Walter Wall said last year the Siesta Motel was at the center of three prostitution sting operations, resulting in 19 arrests in two years.

Trindad said sex trafficking has plagued Merced for at least two years, but some residents have no idea.

“I’m almost certain that if I said we’ve arrested people for human trafficking, most people would say, ‘You’re kidding me,’” he said. “Sometimes it goes under the radar, but we definitely have a problem here, and we’re trying to break that cycle.”

But the motel managers say they are frustrated, too.

Siesta Motel manager Previn Gandhi, who has run the motel for 12 years, said he can’t control what happens behind the closed doors of his motel rooms.

“I just rent the rooms and that’s it,” said Gandhi, 61, while he cleaned a room Friday morning. “I can’t ask them what they do inside their rooms. It’s not under my control what happens at night. I take the ID, and I give them a room.”

Sanil Singh, manager of the neighboring Gateway Motel, says prostitutes have flocked to the motels since the 1980s. The owners have voluntarily compiled a list of 26 people they won’t rent to and when those people show up at the property, Singh says, the police are called.

But when women are arrested for prostitution, Singh said, they’re released and back on the street within days. He said the police only cite trespassers and they return to the motel within hours.

During the Sun-Star interview with Singh, a female who was also seen at the Siesta Motel came to the Gateway. Singh said she’s a known prostitute and is not allowed to rent a room. She purchased two sodas and left. “I go to sleep at 4 a.m. each night because we have to kick them out of the place,” Singh said, motioning toward the female.

Children exploited

The average age of children forced into sex trafficking is 12 to 14 years old, according to studies.

Experts say traffickers or pimps look for specific types of girls – those who are insecure, vulnerable and come from broken families. Foster children and runaways are more likely to be exploited.

Debbie Johnson, founder of Without Permission, a faith-based Modesto nonprofit that fights against trafficking, said pimps find the girls at shopping malls, fast-food restaurants and even schools. Some use social media to scope out the girls.

Then the cycle begins: The pimp “woos” the girl with compliments, gifts and dinners. Then they begin manipulating and controlling them.

“The girls are looking for relationships; they’re looking for intimacy and protection,” Johnson said in an interview at her Modesto office. “Once they own her emotionally, now they turn her out. They’ll say, “If you love me, you’ll do this so we can earn enough money. We only have to do this for a year.’”

The men continue the pattern of control by using threats, physical violence and getting the girls hooked on drugs, Johnson said. But vulnerable kids aren’t the only targets – pimps sometimes go after girls from middle-class families.

Without Permission fights back by providing safe houses for rescued girls, training for law enforcement and support for victims. Johnson says training law enforcement officers on dealing with sex trafficking victims is crucial.

The organization offers free training to first responders on how to approach victims, many of whom are severely traumatized. The group has trained officers from Modesto, Turlock, Tracy and the Modesto California Highway Patrol.

The state attorney general's office estimates human trafficking is the world’s second most profitable criminal enterprise, following drug trafficking. Human trafficking is a $32 billion a year industry, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

While many may be unaware of the extent of the problem in the Central Valley, Johnson remains committed to trying to wipe it out. Teri and Lou Reyes continue their crusade against it along West 16th Street and law enforcement agencies keep looking for answers.

For more information about the problem or ways you can help, call Without Permission at (209) 622-0156.

This story was originally published April 17, 2015 at 6:55 PM with the headline "Sex trafficking: Is it happening in Merced?."