Sex-traffic shock

NY motels ignored 10-yr.old vic: suit

Two Big Apple motels are accused of turning a blind eye while a 10-yearold girl was raped, beaten and sold for sex at their properties, a $10 million lawsuit filed Tuesday claims.

The suit, filed in Brooklyn federal court, claims Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Choice Hotels Corp. were complicit in the child’s abuse by operating franchises that chose “to ignore the open and obvious presence of sex trafficking on their properties.”

The plaintiff, who is now a woman in her 20s and is identified only by the initials “S.J.,” claims she was sold for sex as many as 15 to 20 times a day at a Howard Johnson in Jamaica, Queens, operated by Wyndham, and an Econo Lodge in The Bronx, operated by Choice Hotels, between 2006 and 2009 when she was between the ages of 10 and 13, the suit states.

S.J. had met her trafficker shortly after she escaped from a foster home where she was being sexually and physically abused, the suit says, adding she entered into foster care after her father was caught molesting her.

Most sex-trafficking victims are abused as children, multiple experts have told The Post.

Once the girl’s traffickers, a 25year-old man, gained S.J.’s trust and took her virginity, she claims. He forced her to service his clients, telling her “how you make ‘Daddy’ happy is by making [them] happy,” the suit states.

For the next three years, the trafficker would put a “paper bag” over S.J.’s head and ferry her to the Econo Lodge and the Howard Johnson where she’d spend days at a time being raped by clients nonstop, the suit states.

The trafficker would always pay for the rooms in cash and when he didn’t have money for rooms at the Econo Lodge, he allowed hotel staff to rape his victims “in lieu of his payment for the rooms,” the papers state.

There was even a bowl of free condoms displayed at the Econo Lodge’s front desk that victims would use, the suit claims.

S.J. says there was “constant and voluminous” foot traffic in and out of the rooms and “numerous used condoms” were left “scattered across various surfaces” at the end of each motel stay, which should have indicated to staffers that criminal activity was happening.

Further, the suit states, staff at both motels allowed the abuse to take place by failing to call law enforcement and ignoring obvious warning signs displayed by S.J. and the pimp’s other victims, such as physical abuse, diminished personal hygiene, lack of luggage, submissiveness and inappropriate attire.

Wyndham said in a statement that it “condemn[s] human trafficking in any form” but could not specifically address the lawsuit.

Choice did not return a request for comment.