Woman keeps sex slaves in Indiana, gets 30 years in federal prison
GARY, Ind. (WIBC) — A woman who ran a sex trafficking operation in northwest Indiana was given 30 years in federal prison Wednesday.
Rita Law, of Chicago, was found guilty in a three-week trial in February 2017. She fought the sentence for two years, claiming she was not mentally competent.
U.S. Atty. Thomas Kirsch, II, said Law got a much harsher sentence than she might’ve had she not fled to Hong Kong, when she found out the authorities were on to her in 2013.
Law was found guilty of coercing two women to perform sex acts in her three “spas”, Dreamland Spa in Lake Station and Gary, and Fun Fun Feet in Hobart. The women, who Law lured to the U.S. on a promise of good jobs, were threatened with violence if they didn’t exchange the sex acts for money.
“She used the American dream to lure unsuspecting women to the United States so she could enslave them for her own financial benefit,” said Kirsch. “My office’s willingness to extradite Rita Law from Hong Kong and pursue additional charges against her thereafter should serve as a warning to all those committing crime in the Northern District of Indiana – attempting to flee the country will not prevent my office from bringing you to justice.”
“Sex trafficking of foreign and domestic victims will not be tolerated in the Northern District of Indiana as long as I am United States Attorney,” said Kirsch.
“This sentence cannot begin to compare to the trauma these victims were subjected to, and the life altering consequences they now face because they put their trust and faith in the defendant,” said Grant Mendenhall, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Division. “The FBI will continue working with our law enforcement partners to aggressively identify and pursue the perpetrators of the devastating crime of human trafficking.”
Federal and city authorities investigated and busted Law.