Victims claim to have been sex trafficked in these 118 hotels

The bugs are spread across the map, from coast to coast, in 40 states. Each of the 118 marked locations represents a Red Roof Inn hotel where women claim to have been sex trafficked, and each one is associated with a horror story.

In the rooms of these hotels, victims say they were forced by someone to prostitute themselves against their will, often facing physical and psychological violence.

The map was compiled from a database provided to The Independent by attorneys working on the cases of hundreds of sex trafficking victims as they prepare to file lawsuits against the company. The cases are part of a broader investigation into sex trafficking at the hotel chain published this week by The Independent.

The map is also supplemented by publicly reported criminal cases of sex trafficking at Red Roof Inn hotels.

The victims cited by the law firms, some of whom were minors at the time, accuse the company of allowing its rooms to be rented to the sex traffickers who held them.

The signs of trafficking were so obvious that the company could not have ignored them. The complaints filed are riddled with references to malnourished and underage girls and women under the control of “pimps” who conducted their business in front of hotel staff, renting out numerous hotel rooms where male guests came and went, night after night.

But this map is just the tip of the iceberg. Most of the locations cited were provided by a law firm, which interviewed hundreds of its clients during the process of putting together their files.

Steven Babin, the attorney who provided the database, represents nearly 1,000 sex trafficking victims in cases involving Red Roof Inn. He said The Independent that sex trafficking had reached “epidemic levels” throughout the hotel chain and estimated the actual number of victims at several thousand.

Red Roof Inn, which has some 624 properties in the United States, has repeatedly denied ignoring sex trafficking in its hotels.

Following a settlement in a recent lawsuit in Atlanta, Georgia, Red Roof Inn said in a statement that it “denies all allegations” and “condemns prostitution and sex trafficking in all its forms.” The property also said it has “taken steps to mitigate criminal activity at Red Roof properties,” without elaborating.

Last week, 11 victims reached settlements with Red Roof Inn regarding sex trafficking at two Atlanta locations. Several other locations on the map have been sites of sex trafficking that have resulted in arrests and convictions in recent years, details of which are publicly available.

Earlier this yearA man has pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering charges and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Ohio law enforcement was notified after he handed out a card claiming to be from a modeling agency at the Red Roof Inn Columbus West (Hilliard).

The perpetrator was found to have been using the Red Roof Inn and other hotels as a place to drug his victims and force them into sex trafficking.

Meanwhile, in MissouriA couple has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison each for sex trafficking of a minor. reports at the timeThis child sex trafficking incident took place at the Red Roof Inn in Springfield.

The couple gave the victim drugs and arranged for sex with a stranger at the motel, while actively seeking out other minors to participate. The location is not currently named in the ongoing lawsuit against the hotel chain.

Ohio tops the list with at least 14 Red Roof Inn locations where sex trafficking cases have been reported. It's also where the law firm that's bringing the cases is located.

Texas (12) and Florida (11) also have high numbers of Red Roof Inn locations with reported sex trafficking cases, while 62% of the chain's California locations have been named by victims.