A woman has filed a lawsuit against Motel 6 and several other motel chains, accusing them of allowing her to be trafficked and raped nearly a thousand times.
According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the woman, identified only as Jane A.B. Doe, claims that Motel 6 franchisor G6 Hospitality LLC, Wyndham Hotel Group, and Red Roof Inn are responsible for what happened to her. She alleges that hotel staff not only knew about her abuse but in some cases, even participated in it.
Doe says her nightmare began when she was just 13 years old. After running away from child protective services in Dallas, she encountered a pimp who forced her at gunpoint into sex trafficking. Over the years, she says she was raped close to a thousand times at different Motel 6 and Red Roof Inn locations in California and Texas while hotel employees either ignored or assisted in the abuse.
She claims hotel staff didn’t just turn a blind eye—they actively helped her trafficker. Some, she says, even watched as she was being assaulted or took part in the abuse themselves.
The lawsuit states that hotel employees ignored clear signs that she was being trafficked. Despite visible bruises, malnourishment, and her often-drugged state, they looked the other way. Instead of helping, they allegedly made it easier for the trafficker by instructing cleaning staff not to enter her room, giving her and her pimp specific rooms that were conveniently located, and directing them to use certain entrances and exits to avoid attention.
According to Doe, these motels financially benefited from her exploitation and knowingly maintained a business model that attracted traffickers and sex buyers. She is seeking unspecified damages.
Meanwhile, another lawsuit making similar claims was filed in federal court in Texas on January 30. This case, brought by a woman identified as Jane AAG Doe, targets several Motel 6 locations in Los Angeles, Gardena, Dallas, and Austin, a Studio 6 in Dallas, a Red Roof Inn in Houston, and unspecified locations of Days Inn by Wyndham and Super 8 by Wyndham.
Like the first case, this lawsuit accuses the motel chains of violating the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), which allows trafficking victims to take legal action against those who facilitated their abuse.
AAG Doe says she was trafficked through force and coercion and forced into “numerous commercial sex acts” between January 2015 and December 2015. She argues that the connection between motels and sex trafficking is so well known that law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, regularly train hotel employees to recognize the warning signs.
She believes that Motel 6, in particular, should have been well aware of the issue. According to her lawsuit, Motel 6 is one of the five hotel chains most frequently mentioned in federal sex trafficking cases. Despite this, she claims the company failed to take action, allowing trafficking to continue at several of its locations.
In her 31-page complaint, AAG Doe provides over 40 media reports and online reviews that she says prove these motels had long been linked to sex trafficking. She argues that with all this evidence, there’s no way the hotels didn’t know what was happening.
The lawsuit details clear red flags that the motels allegedly ignored—guests paying in cash or with prepaid cards, refusing housekeeping services, and a constant stream of different men visiting rooms late at night. Employees, including those in management, reportedly witnessed these warning signs but did nothing.
AAG Doe is seeking unspecified damages for the hotels’ alleged role in her trafficking. The case is currently being handled by U.S. District Judge Michael J. Truncale.
So far, none of the companies named in the lawsuits have responded to media requests for comment.
