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This episode contains graphic language and

0:10

descriptions of events that some listeners may

0:12

find disturbing. Pitts

0:22

a late September day in twenty

0:24

nineteen outside an extended stay

0:26

premier suites in Pompano Beach, Florida.

0:29

The hotels on West McNab Road

0:32

just off interstate ninety five in a

0:34

rougher part of the city. That

0:36

Monday evening A black Pitts car

0:38

pulls into the hotel parking lot and

0:40

drives past the entrance. It makes

0:42

a u-turn and circles back, stopping

0:44

in front of the lobby doors. A

0:47

woman gets out of the passenger side and

0:49

walks to the registration desk. She

0:52

rents two rooms, three twenty

0:54

six and three thirty four for five

0:56

nights each. She uses

0:58

a Pennsylvania driver's license and a

1:00

credit card Pitts discovered later

1:03

that both were stolen and

1:05

she has no luggage. A

1:08

few days later, a hotel manager

1:10

reports suspicious activity. Two

1:12

men, neither of them registered guests

1:15

were going back and forth between the two rooms

1:17

at odd hours. Then

1:20

at ten AM on Friday, four days

1:22

after the

1:23

check-in, a call comes into nine eleven,

1:25

from a young woman.

1:28

I don't think she's breathing. I think she

1:30

overnosed.

1:31

So where was she at?

1:33

Yeah. Hold on one second. I'm under the scene.

1:35

Inside the room, deputies find

1:37

a body of Marina Blair Ralph.

1:41

The sixteen year old Red Head is sitting

1:43

partially upright on the floor, her back

1:45

against the bed's footboard. Her

1:47

lap is covered by a hotel Schutz,

1:50

but underneath, she's naked from the

1:52

waist down. Nobody

1:54

else is in either room and

1:56

no belongings were left behind. The

1:59

door jam to the bathroom is broken, as

2:01

though it had been kicked in. And

2:03

it is clear that Marina's body had been moved

2:06

after she died. She had

2:08

overdosed on mix of cocaine and

2:10

fentanyl. We don't

2:12

know when Marina went into the room or

2:14

what went on inside, but

2:16

we do know she was in danger. That

2:19

she had reached out to her worried mother repeatedly,

2:22

telling her she wanted her old life back.

2:25

We know terrible things happened at

2:27

room three thirty four. To Marina

2:29

Ralph, another victim of child

2:31

sex trafficking in Florida. From

2:48

the South Florida Sunset Wallman association with

2:51

Wondery, this is Florida.

2:54

The podcast that leads you into the dark

2:56

side of the sunshine state. I'm

2:59

your host, David along with investigative

3:01

reporters, Britney and Spencer Norris.

3:05

In the last episode, we told you about

3:07

the disappearance of fifteen year old Sophie

3:09

Reader who's now also believed to

3:11

be a victim of sex trafficking. We

3:13

told you how criminals coerce young

3:15

girls, exploit their vulnerabilities,

3:18

and hold them close through threats and manipulation.

3:21

All to keep them as money making products

3:24

sold for commercial sex. Schutz

3:27

every crime needs a crime scene. And

3:30

Florida has about four hundred and eighty

3:32

five thousand of them that are ideal for trafficers.

3:35

That's how many hotel rooms there are in this state.

3:39

Many become havens for the criminals who are

3:41

destroying young lives. Our

3:45

reporters were looking to bose those

3:47

who are complicit in this insidious crime.

3:50

We found the hospitality industry

3:52

is at the top of the list. Some

3:55

hotels have become enablers of modern

3:57

sex slavery, renting rooms to traffickers

4:00

and ignoring signs that something illegal

4:02

is going on. That a child

4:04

may be in danger. And

4:07

that's where Marina Ralph's story comes in.

4:10

Her tragic case exposes the role

4:12

hotels play in this horrifying crime

4:14

and the difficulties they face in eradicating

4:17

it.

4:27

The medical examiner's report on Marina

4:29

Ralph is decisive. Her death

4:31

was accidental caused by an overdose.

4:34

Schutz the circumstances around the tragedy

4:36

are far less clear and still under investigation

4:39

by the FBI. Because

4:42

Marina shouldn't have been in room three thirty

4:44

four, or any other hotel room.

4:46

It's evident now that she was being held

4:48

in the grasp of one or more sex traffickers.

4:52

Girls don't live long once they fall

4:54

into that life. And Marina

4:56

fell fast, practically before her

4:58

mother, Charity Perot, even knew it.

5:02

The two were close. Marina was

5:04

Charity's only child. Her parents

5:06

were divorced early in life and her father

5:08

was not part of her childhood. So they

5:10

moved around a lot before settling in Fort

5:12

Lauderdale.

5:14

They were very close, slept

5:16

in the same bed a lot, They

5:19

shared a small apartment. They had

5:21

bunk beds. She Wondery

5:23

would sleep on top. She slept on the bottom.

5:26

A lot of times, they just bunked together. So,

5:29

I mean, they were they were

5:31

pretty close.

5:33

That's Justin Gross, a lawyer who

5:35

talked to our reporters on behalf of Marina's

5:37

mom. Because they're suing the hotel

5:39

and the case is ongoing. Justin

5:42

described Marina as a typical young

5:44

girl, a girly girl. That's

5:46

how he put it. Schutz she became

5:48

sexually active early court documents tell

5:50

us. And by age thirteen, she

5:53

was pregnant. It

5:55

was the first of a series of setbacks for the

5:57

middle schooler. Marina had

5:59

an abortion,

6:00

and then weeks later, she was raped

6:03

by a young man she had just met?

6:06

After the termination

6:08

of the pregnancy, there was a sexual abuse

6:11

from a a

6:14

guy that was when I say

6:16

a guy, I wanna say at least eighteen,

6:19

maybe nineteen, that

6:22

happened within about a month of

6:24

the termination of the pregnancy. Met

6:28

met him through friends add

6:33

sink a library in Fort

6:35

Lauderdale, and then the friends

6:37

leave and hey, do you wanna come

6:40

hang out. We could play video games, and

6:43

then

6:44

that turned into you

6:46

know, a sexual abuse. And

6:49

then --

6:50

Right. -- a rape. She reported

6:52

it and it

6:55

was in an apartment complex, and she couldn't

6:57

figure out she didn't know the guy's

6:59

name. He couldn't figure

7:01

out which apartment it was

7:03

in. Marina

7:05

was still dealing with those traumas later that

7:07

year when she started as a freshman at Fort

7:09

Lauderdale High School. It was there

7:12

she met an older student. The

7:14

court documents referred to her only as z,

7:16

but our reporters determined her name was

7:18

Zoe Wallman. She

7:23

and Marina were in the school's junior ROTC

7:25

program. First, the two

7:27

were just hanging out together. But

7:30

the eighteen year old Zooey began to insert

7:32

herself into Marina's life and

7:34

pushing her into making bad decisions. Justin

7:37

told us that it was Zoe who drew Marina

7:39

into the world of sex trafficking. And

7:42

now, Both

7:44

girls are dead. Some

7:48

of the details about Marina Ralph's death

7:51

come from police and the medical examiner's reports.

7:54

Schutz the details of those reports leave out

7:56

that shed light on how Marina got to room

7:58

three thirty four.

8:00

Most of those come from court documents.

8:03

This is reporter Britney Wallman.

8:05

The law enforcement is aware of

8:08

the Marina Ralph Case, but

8:12

we got most of the details about

8:14

what happened through Justin's

8:17

lawsuit that he filed on behalf of

8:19

her mother, Charity Bureau. We

8:21

met Justin Gross because

8:23

he is a local lawyer

8:26

and the firm that he works for has a practice

8:28

called just for kids, which

8:30

is solely dedicated

8:33

to cases involving children

8:35

and tragedies like this

8:38

that involve human

8:41

trafficking or or

8:43

group homes or foster care, a lot of the

8:45

issues that we were looking into for

8:47

this project. And

8:50

Justin has a really unique

8:52

perspective because he spent

8:55

a lot of time in the state attorney's

8:57

office as a prosecutor. And we need

8:59

to see how these cases tear the families

9:01

apart, seeing what happens

9:03

to their daughters. And if

9:06

there if no one is held to account,

9:08

there's no arrests, there's no accountability.

9:12

It's one way that people seek

9:14

accountability

9:15

is through filing lawsuits,

9:17

and that's what Justin does for

9:19

these families. As

9:21

Britney and her reporting colleagues peeled back

9:24

the layers of the child sex trafficking scourge,

9:26

they discovered right away the part that hotels

9:29

play. The majority of cases

9:31

of commercial sex trafficking occur in

9:33

hotel rooms. That's according

9:35

to the Wallman trafficking 2 review

9:37

of prosecutions. And half of

9:39

all trafficking victims in Florida are younger

9:42

than eighteen. This is

9:44

not an issue limited to CD one

9:46

star hotels that rent rooms by the hour.

9:49

Even higher end hotels frequented by travelers

9:51

and tourists are on the front

9:53

lines. And what's the biggest

9:55

issue faced by hotels and their employees? You

9:58

know, there's a fine line between guest

10:02

privacy and being

10:04

vigilant about the signs of human trafficking.

10:07

As journalist, you know, we're trained to see both

10:09

sides of Avery's story.

10:12

And this is such an

10:14

authority issue you know, hotels

10:17

are training their employees to

10:20

see the warning signs of trafficking

10:22

and you

10:24

know, be sort of a first line of defense

10:26

because hotels are the

10:28

premier spot for trafficking

10:31

to take place. Schutz

10:33

the same time, it's you

10:36

know, we talked to hotel manager who

10:39

was kinda just describing how, you know,

10:41

am I gonna go accuse that woman

10:43

over there of being a prostitute?

10:45

You know, it puts them

10:47

in a spot almost

10:49

like law enforcement that some of them don't

10:51

wanna be in. And, of course, they're

10:54

collecting money from these people. These are customers.

11:01

Those issues are central to Marina Ralph's

11:04

case. The hotel where she

11:06

died pointed out in its response to

11:08

Justin's lawsuit that the rooms were rented

11:10

by an adult and that Marina

11:12

was not president check-in. Or

11:15

any other young girl for that matter. No

11:17

minors were ever seen coming or going from

11:19

the room. The hallways

11:21

to the rooms could be accessed using a guest

11:24

key without going through the lobby. There

11:26

are security cameras inside and outside

11:28

the hotel. Schutz it's possible somebody

11:31

could get to a room without being seen by

11:33

one. And the suspicious

11:35

activity? The hotel

11:37

so there's no way to know whether Marina was

11:39

even there when two men were allegedly

11:42

going between the rented rooms. After

11:44

all, nobody on staff ever saw her

11:46

arrive. And the

11:48

response to the suit makes one other

11:50

significant note in its court filing.

11:53

Marina's death was an overdose the

11:56

hotel lawyers wrote, either an accident

11:58

or a suicide. If she was

12:00

indeed being trafficked, there's no evidence

12:02

who was happening there. At that

12:05

hotel. She was a troubled

12:07

girl whose short life was a difficult one.

12:10

And all of that is absolutely true.

12:13

But there's lot more to Marina Ralph's story.

12:16

She was scared to death of something and

12:19

more and more desperate to escape it.

12:25

After Marina met Zoe, the older girl

12:28

in her high school, she began to disappear

12:30

from home for several days at a

12:31

time. Schutz she kept coming back

12:34

and always kept in touch with her mom charity.

12:37

She started to have a bit of a downward spiral

12:41

from a mental health standpoint, she was having

12:43

trouble, you know, whether it

12:45

was getting picked on at

12:47

school or experimenting

12:52

sexually with, you know,

12:56

kids her age, and

13:00

then not knowing how to deal with that.

13:02

And I think when

13:04

she started going downhill.

13:06

It was mom trying to

13:08

get help for her where

13:10

she needed, but also I

13:12

don't wanna shut her down. I

13:15

want her to keep telling me when

13:17

something's bothering her. And I feel like if I

13:20

push her too hard, then she won't tell me

13:22

when something's

13:22

but, you know, I mean, it's a hard,

13:25

I guess, line to walk. Charity

13:28

even confronted Zoe. And told her

13:30

to stay away from her daughter. But

13:32

the response she got back was chilling.

13:35

Stay out of my business, Zoe told Marina's

13:37

mom, I'll get her if I want.

13:41

By the time of that ominous confrontation, it's

13:44

likely somebody already had

13:45

Marina. For one thing,

13:48

Charity's young daughter was coming and going from

13:50

a hotel room. So

13:52

Marina was just a teenager. And

13:55

she was close with her mom, but she told her

13:57

mom that she was gonna go stay in

13:59

a hotel in Pompano Beach. She wouldn't

14:01

give her mom the name of the hotel. Schutz

14:05

said that she there were other girls

14:07

at the hotel too. She

14:09

was concerned in particular about

14:12

a girl that was there, that was fifteen. And

14:16

the mom, you know, she

14:18

she didn't wanna cut off communication

14:22

with her daughter. She didn't wanna seem

14:24

judgmental and have Marina

14:27

stop. Sharing with her.

14:29

So she kind of went with

14:31

it. Marina was gonna

14:34

walk to the bus station to get to this

14:36

hotel. didn't want her mom knowing

14:39

where the hotel was, and

14:41

it was raining. And so Marina's

14:44

mother drove her to the bus

14:46

station and gave her ten dollars. And,

14:50

you know, she not because she wanted her to

14:52

go there, but just

14:53

because she wanted to maintain her

14:56

relationship with her daughter.

14:58

We don't know which hotel she went to that

15:00

day. Only that she told her mom

15:02

it was in Pompano Beach. But

15:04

when she was there, traffickers took

15:06

photos of Marina. And created an

15:09

ad to post to an adult website that advertised

15:11

for sex. The ad gave

15:13

Marina's cell phone number and a message

15:15

that she was available until early mornings at

15:17

the hotel.

15:19

A few days later, things started

15:21

to kind of disintegrate.

15:24

And Marina was calling her mom

15:27

saying that her cell phone

15:29

had been taken away from her at knife point.

15:32

And she begged her mother not

15:34

to call nine eleven because she was afraid

15:37

of the people that she was with that they

15:39

would harm her or her mother

15:41

SHE SAID THEY KNEW WHERE SHE LIVED. Reporter:

15:44

SO CHARITY PLEADED WITH HER DAUGHTER TO COME

15:46

HOME AND EVENTUALLY SHE

15:48

DID. Schutz less than a week later,

15:51

Marina was gone again. The

15:53

next time charity heard from her, Marina was

15:55

crying over the phone. She was

15:57

back at the same hotel and told her mom,

15:59

quote, I just want out. I

16:02

can't handle it. Once

16:04

again, charity convinced Marina to come

16:06

home. This time, she took

16:08

her daughter to Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital

16:10

in Hollywood, Florida 2 be evaluated.

16:13

She stayed there for less than a week.

16:16

Marina admitted to her mom that she wished

16:18

she could stay longer. She said

16:20

she felt safer there, protected

16:22

from the people at the hotel.

16:24

Wondery back home, Marina pleaded

16:27

to be transferred to a new school.

16:30

And she went to that school,

16:32

but just for a few days. And

16:35

charity sour at their apartment at

16:37

about one one o'clock in the afternoon

16:39

on October first. But

16:42

by six PM, she was gone. She

16:44

wasn't answering the new phone that her

16:46

mother had given her. And the next

16:48

day, Charity got a text

16:51

from Marina that said I

16:53

meant to come home.

16:55

It's not clear what Marina meant by that.

16:57

And after a few more texts, she

17:00

stopped answering

17:00

completely. Two days

17:02

went by. Then

17:05

Friday, that Friday, October fourth there's

17:07

a knock at the door, and Charity

17:12

looked out and there were two police

17:14

officers out there. So she

17:16

she knew what that meant. Marina

17:20

was dead.

17:27

As heartbreaking as Marina's case is,

17:30

it's far from unusual. During

17:32

this investigation, we encountered case

17:34

after case where hotel rooms were used

17:37

to sell girls for sex.

17:39

Early in our investigation, we attended

17:42

a roundtable convened by Florida congresswoman

17:44

Debbie Wallman Good

17:48

morning, everyone. This is a

17:50

continuation in a series of roundtables

17:53

that I have hosted with human

17:55

trafficking ex efforts and folks who The

17:57

congresswoman has been working to pass laws

17:59

to help cut off hotels as a venue for

18:01

this crime.

18:03

Britney asked her WHAT'S BEING DONE TO

18:05

ADDRESS THEIR COMPLISITY WHETHER IT'S

18:07

KNOWING OR UNKNOWN.

18:09

IS THERE ENOUGH POSHMENT HANGING

18:12

OVER THE HOTELS 2-

18:14

No. -- cause them to do the Not by any means.

18:16

In fact, I have been trying

18:18

to introduce legislation and have introduced

18:20

legislation that

18:23

would require more of hotels.

18:25

And of course, during COVID, there's

18:27

been a lot of pushback -- Uh-huh. -- the smaller hotels

18:29

especially because they're already having such you

18:31

know, huge impact of, you know,

18:34

business impacts as result of COVID.

18:36

And so, you know, adding more that

18:38

they are that the hotel associations that

18:40

are smaller argue that

18:42

if you add more burden on to us, we're going

18:44

to have hard time. And I

18:47

mean, we think that there are certain things like the

18:49

short term stays that are

18:51

very obviously not because someone

18:54

is coming through some of these hotels

18:56

and need to be able to stay just a

18:58

few hours. Right. You know,

19:01

the limiting short stays, that's

19:03

a way to prevent

19:05

the hotels from being used as trafficking venues.

19:08

The fact is

19:10

the hotel industry is extremely powerful,

19:13

especially in Florida, where the lodging

19:15

and hospitality industry employs some

19:17

one point six million workers and

19:19

contributes nearly one hundred billion dollars

19:22

a year to the state's economy. Florida

19:24

state senator Lauren Book, herself

19:27

or survivor of child sexual abuse,

19:29

said the industry carries a lot of weight of

19:31

the capital in Tallahassee. It

19:33

opposed to bill, senator book sponsored,

19:36

that would make it easier to hold hotels accountable

19:38

for the trafficking that happens behind the doors

19:40

of their rooms. She was reluctant

19:42

to discuss the details that led to

19:44

the demise of the bill. Schutz it was clear

19:47

that industry lobbyists played a role.

19:50

I think that we can say on the record that

19:53

their are oftentimes in Tallahassee

19:55

invisible walls that you

19:57

don't know why or how something is happening

20:00

at a time. And I

20:02

do know after the fact that,

20:04

you know, the

20:07

hotel lodging industry

20:10

really had some problems with that original

20:12

bill, particularly related

20:14

to some of the cause of action. That

20:17

we had. And rather

20:20

than working through at that session,

20:22

the bill did die.

20:25

This was in fact something that

20:27

is happening at all corners

20:29

of our state and happens

20:31

every day. And so that's why I I

20:33

can confidently say on the record and in that

20:35

way. And what I would also say is,

20:38

it until sometimes people

20:40

bring you along, You don't realize it.

20:44

Senator Book had a point.

20:49

Maybe we needed someone to bring us along

20:51

to hotels 2 get a sense

20:53

of just why they're such an easy place

20:55

to get away with such a horrific crime.

20:58

So that's what we decided to do. And

21:00

we knew exactly who to turn to.

21:09

Former Miami

21:12

COP John Rody is one of the few people

21:14

who's trying to locate girls who are being trafficked,

21:17

and to report hotels that are overlooking

21:19

signs that girls are being sold out of their

21:21

rooms. We

21:29

connected with John when we began investigating

21:31

the disappearance of Sophie Reader. As

21:34

a private investigator, he's been working

21:36

with Sophie's mother since her daughter vanished from

21:38

her Fort Lauderdale home in May twenty

21:40

seventeen. Months after

21:42

we started looking into Sophie's case, we

21:44

learned something we hadn't heard before, something

21:47

Sophie's family didn't even know. Her

21:54

friends told us that Sophie herself had

21:56

been raped in a Florida hotel room. Months

21:58

before she went missing. It was

22:01

rape that was never reported, but

22:03

verified by a friend who was in the hotel

22:05

room and another who Sophie called in

22:07

tears later that night. The

22:09

attack is further evidence that the fifteen

22:11

year old Sophie had been lured into a dark

22:13

adult world. And it's

22:15

just the kind of thing that John Rody looks

22:17

for and works to prevent. He

22:26

has a nonprofit called Global Children's

22:28

Rescue, but he told us the

22:30

donations he hoped for just never rolled

22:33

in. So it's just John

22:35

and he does it largely for free.

22:41

I'm the one that's on the street looking and

22:43

driving around and making phone calls

22:46

and going to hotels and going places

22:48

that you know, most people would want to go to.

22:50

As John began to unravel

22:53

Sophie's disappearance, he found more

22:55

and more cases just like

22:56

it. They launched this crusade on

22:58

the streets of South Florida. I

23:01

worked homicide. I worked robbery. I

23:04

worked course patrol

23:06

when I first, you know, starting at work narcotics

23:10

back in the Miami cocaine cowboy

23:12

days. But never missing

23:14

persons. This

23:16

is just something that, you know, just happened.

23:20

And I and I was kinda surprised how many

23:23

cases there are, how

23:25

many missing children there are, how many

23:27

young women are involved in

23:30

prostitution that are

23:32

being forced into it and can't have

23:34

no escape. Can't get out?

23:37

John's relentlessness is fascinating. For

23:40

years, he spent his spare time running

23:42

down online leads that take him to sex

23:44

workers and victimize children

23:46

all over the region. Schutz

23:49

hard to quantify his success. His

23:51

approach with local law enforcement is antagonistic

23:54

and often leaves him cut out of investigations.

23:57

And his persistence with hotels can

23:59

exhaust the patients of managers

24:01

even as they commend his motives.

24:04

Most former cops that I've met are

24:06

very pro law enforcement, you

24:09

know, then blue line, they

24:11

have solidarity. Rody

24:13

is very much a renegade. Even

24:16

though he spent his life, you know, in law

24:18

enforcement, he does

24:20

not have a good relationship with the

24:23

local cops because he's constantly

24:26

pushing them 2, you know, there's

24:28

a girl in this hotel room a girl on that

24:30

hotel room. Why aren't you doing anything? He's

24:33

very used to hearing them say, like,

24:36

why do you care? You're not know,

24:38

what are you doing? What are you getting out of this?

24:40

And he

24:43

he his work is so important

24:45

to the families. He's sort of

24:47

part detective and sleuth

24:49

and investigator and social worker

24:52

and therapist and friend. He

24:55

talks to these families all

24:58

the time. You know,

25:00

as we saw from from investigating this,

25:02

you know, this is not a situation where

25:05

something bad happens to a girl

25:07

and then she's rescued

25:10

and she goes on about a regular

25:12

life. This is

25:15

prolonged and there are ups and

25:17

downs, and it's very hard on the

25:19

family members. And Rody is

25:21

sort of consistent figure, a pillar

25:24

in their lives, and they can reach out to him.

25:26

And and, you know, he might

25:28

not have you know, information

25:30

for them. He might not be able to solve

25:32

their problem or bring their child home or fix

25:35

them. But, you

25:37

know, he listens he cares. And

25:40

he keeps trying and that

25:42

is everything for these families.

25:45

His method of operation is unusual for

25:47

a civilian. Schutz you can't take

25:50

the cop out of John Rody even more than

25:52

a decade after he turned in his badge.

25:54

He scours through any number of websites

25:56

that advertised for sex. When he

25:59

finds a photograph of a girl who appears to

26:01

be a minor, he contacts her. He'll

26:06

text back and forth until he's convinced

26:09

her that he's a customer and learns a hotel

26:11

and room number where she's at, then

26:13

they set up a meeting time. When

26:16

he gets there, John tells a girl that

26:18

he planned to pay with a credit card. Of

26:20

course, they'll only take cash. So

26:23

John says he'll go to the lobby to find an

26:25

ATM and then come back. Instead,

26:28

he shows photos and text messages to the hotel

26:30

manager. And sometimes he calls a

26:32

police, especially if he suspects the

26:34

girl is underage. He does this

26:37

over and over. Our

26:39

reporters wanted to see for themselves how

26:41

these interventions go down. And

26:43

John agreed to take them along to one of the

26:45

many hotels he keeps an eye on. In

26:48

early twenty twenty two, two reporters

26:50

and an audio producer piled into John

26:52

Wodie's Kia SUV and headed

26:54

out.

27:03

Should we pile in and

27:04

Yeah. Yeah. So

27:05

a chat on Where we go? It was a

27:07

clear Friday afternoon in January. Earlier

27:10

that day, John had started reaching out to

27:12

some of the girls he found in online ads.

27:15

Okay. Pitts get a response back. I'm not

27:17

sure who this was. This one that I sent out --

27:19

Okay. -- at eight o'clock

27:20

speaker, you speak for for this morning. And

27:22

the address is? The roadway in twenty

27:24

four forty West eighty five? Seventy

27:27

four.

27:27

Yeah.

27:30

Perfect. So what did

27:32

they say to you? I mean, it it's

27:34

very, very

27:35

short. Like I said, I only my thing was high baby.

27:37

She responds. High baby. This hotel

27:39

is near Fort Lauderdale's airport. It's

27:42

rated three stars and it's used by passengers

27:44

coming going from cruise ships and flights.

27:47

Although John frequently communicates with

27:49

the hotel's manager, it's only one

27:51

of several he

27:52

watches, and our reporters found

27:54

no police reports of any trafficking activity

27:57

there. So I I said, okay. Perfect.

28:01

Hal, I can I'll say

28:03

twenty five minutes. Twenty minutes. Twenty

28:06

five minutes away.

28:12

Send. Enable. A photo

28:14

of what you're wearing now. John

28:17

warns our reporters to be ready because

28:19

many of his rescue trips to hotels don't

28:21

pan

28:21

out. We're just playing the number the numbers

28:23

game. You know, it it you

28:26

may do ten,

28:27

twenty, thirty before you get someone that's

28:29

underage. You you don't John shows us how

28:31

simple it is to look for ads with potentially

28:34

Wondery girls. Basically,

28:36

Pitts Google Search. Type in

28:38

escorts, a city name, and click.

28:40

Dozens of pages are returned. Hundreds

28:43

of

28:43

girls. You don't

28:44

really know. They're like I said, the real

28:46

age what the situation is?

28:48

She

28:49

looks pretty young. Okay. If there's a

28:51

involved, if there's a 2

28:54

up in a past in a passport, you have

28:56

no idea. They're just not gonna say that. Okay.

28:58

Happen is that Pimp involved. Wallman

29:03

lot a lot of times they're they're

29:06

involved on called Pimp, controller

29:08

or whatever. But a lot they're not even

29:10

there though. Basically, they'll be the one that set up the get

29:13

the room under a company's name

29:15

or like a male's name, and

29:18

they'll have one or two girls working in the room.

29:21

The hotels have no idea who's

29:23

actually care. And

29:26

the hotels don't really care. The hotels

29:28

are biggest

29:33

problem with this type of illegal activity.

29:35

They turned 2 blind eye to it because they wanna make

29:38

the money. As our team heads for the hotel,

29:40

and a possible encounter with the woman John

29:42

made contact with. Britney wants to

29:44

know what motivates John Rody.

29:47

Because something we've wondered throughout our investigation

29:50

is whether he's the king of feudal endeavors

29:53

or hero of the highest

29:54

proportions. So

29:55

what is your thought about? Like,

29:57

what what's your motivation? It's sad to say,

30:01

like shovel a stand in the ocean.

30:05

That's

30:05

the real sad thing about it. There's just

30:07

so much. Okay?

30:09

And it's not that there's so many young

30:12

women working out here this thing

30:14

men, the demand for

30:17

men to hook up with different

30:19

websites. If there wasn't a demand by men,

30:22

it I have no business.

30:24

what motivates you then?

30:29

Yeah. To me, yes, to be able to you

30:33

know, rescue a young girl that's

30:36

being forced into this or being held against

30:38

her

30:38

will. That's my motivation. Many

30:40

girls do you think you've saved?

30:44

Probably, I'd say since we started

30:47

probably about thirty or forty. Wow.

30:49

Okay. Now a lot of these are the cases

30:52

I get involved in are a young I

30:54

consider saving them their young runaways.

30:57

They take off off, they'll fly with their parents,

30:59

and they'll learn some hotel and

31:02

be able to track them down by a phone or the parent

31:04

may know where they're at, and I find 2.

31:06

To me, I I consider that or rescue.

31:10

Because if not sooner or later, they would have

31:12

been, you

31:14

know, you know, more working for somebody. I

31:18

got a I got a case right now. The girl just turned

31:20

eighteen. She's

31:24

on drugs. She got arrested. Now

31:26

she's out on bond. Her

31:28

her grandmother calls me every

31:30

day now. We're trying to locate where shekels

31:32

and those are worn for her for a rest.

31:35

But so we you

31:38

to have her picked up and then get her to

31:40

a drug program.

31:41

But she's working in hotels right

31:44

now. It's the way she gets to survive making money.

31:46

Her name is Ivy. Four

31:49

years earlier, she'd been raped and a video

31:51

of the crime posted online, but

31:54

she wasn't willing to cooperate with police,

31:56

so the case went nowhere. Ivey

31:59

struggled with the attack. And like

32:01

so many others, her tragic fall into

32:03

trafficking has taken an enormous toll

32:05

on somebody who loves her. For

32:07

Ivy, that somebody is her grandmother,

32:09

Barbara Leckler. John has been working

32:12

with Barbara to bring Ivy

32:13

home. While our team drives

32:15

toward a hotel, he gives Barbara a call.

32:18

Hey,

32:18

Barbara. How are you doing?

32:20

I'm okay. Just A big part of

32:22

what John is doing is being one of the only

32:24

people to offer support and hope to distressed

32:27

family members like

32:27

Barbara. Oh, I called up. I

32:30

I tactics, I mean, sergeant

32:32

from Deerfield called me.

32:35

Okay. Teddy had her picture out

32:37

on every cop. I told him listen.

32:39

I seriously losing my

32:41

my call with you guys. And

32:43

I don't understand how the missing

32:45

persons can have her, and they

32:48

don't even call me or 2 respect

32:50

to give me a call and I call and leave

32:52

a thousand

32:53

messages. Why can't they

32:55

call me back? Well, the thing is we you

32:57

know, she's she's not a juvenile. Once

32:59

she turned eighteen, now she's an

33:01

adult. That's a whole Oh,

33:03

okay. This is a whole this yeah.

33:06

Is it an entity for four kids when she's

33:08

an adult that's doing badly harm

33:10

to herself and others? I agree. I

33:12

agree. And and and

33:14

she needs mental health.

33:17

And and they're not doing anything about

33:19

it. Nothing to judge. I'm so tired

33:21

of it. Barbara

33:23

is more than a distraught grandmother. She's

33:26

also furious because she doesn't think

33:28

anybody helped Ivy get off the street when

33:30

she was a minor. And all they wanna

33:32

do now that she's an adult is put her

33:34

in jail. So Barbara

33:36

calls the police over and

33:38

over. Sometimes multiple times

33:40

a day.

33:43

For our county regional communications, may

33:45

I help you? Yeah. Hi.

33:48

I've already called earlier. My name is

33:50

Barb from our number is my granddaughter

33:52

has been missing for quite some time. There's one

33:54

child from her arrest. But

33:57

she's been missing and she's being trafficked. And

33:59

I know this for

33:59

sure. I need to speak

34:02

to the sergeant.

34:03

Okay. You said you called in earlier today?

34:06

Yes. And I and I mean, like, hours or

34:08

even hours ago, and I haven't heard a

34:10

word. Family

34:16

members like Barbara can be considered victims

34:18

too. This past spring,

34:21

our reporters went to her Deerfield Beach condo.

34:23

A resort style fifty five and over

34:26

gated complex. She answered

34:28

the door in blue jeans and a long sleeve shirt

34:30

with a giant dragonfly printed on it.

34:32

She looks younger than her sixty six years

34:34

and laughs hardily at the slightest joke.

34:37

Sun poured into her condo were photos

34:39

of Ivy and children's artwork were everywhere.

34:48

And I wanted to show you, III

34:50

want you to take away from this. Could

34:53

you ask a strange question to

34:55

me? Why do you think these girls go

34:57

to traffic thinking, well, you think they go back out

34:59

there. Yeah.

35:00

You know, they come in, they get reformed,

35:02

and they go back out -- Yeah. -- they get healthy,

35:05

and they go back out. And a

35:08

psychologist once told me, it's not the drug

35:10

for Shay, you know? It's

35:13

they can't deal with the trauma in

35:15

their brain and they wanna self medicate.

35:18

Barbara talked for hours about Ivy

35:20

and her efforts to get her home, and

35:22

she showed her team photo after photo of her

35:24

granddaughter. And she showed us something

35:26

else 2, something heartbreaking

35:28

and difficult to listen to in

35:30

Ivy's own voice. As

35:34

a teen, Ivy agonized about

35:36

her mom who's homeless and has health issues.

35:39

Ivy's own bad experiences with institutions

35:41

made her terrified that her mom would be sent

35:44

to one too. Barbara has recording

35:46

of IV at age fourteen or fifteen in

35:48

which she cried about what happened to her. It's

35:51

ridiculous. They don't wanna help you. That's what

35:54

I'm saying. I don't even know if they're gonna help

35:56

my mom. They don't help

35:57

you. They treat you like shit there. They do,

35:59

like, shit.

36:00

Well, I'll see I'll see it with

36:01

They don't care. They put me they

36:04

Schutz do you get in trouble with her? Okay.

36:06

I mean, you see how well she didn't have to. Just

36:08

listen. Would you get a jumbo in the fucking

36:10

That's also true. They put you on the adult

36:12

side with the adults, and they put you in a

36:14

room. Pitts called the choir room, but they

36:16

put you in there. It's a little square room with

36:18

a bed in there, and they make you sit there with the door

36:20

open while somebody watches you on one to

36:23

one. And I was over there and I feel

36:25

that people at the adult section, all that

36:27

were crazy and all they do, they

36:29

all sit there and cry, they ask the people

36:31

to use the phone, and all the people are so rude

36:33

because they're

36:34

crazy. I feel so bad for them.

36:36

A couple months

36:38

after we met Barbara, John sent us

36:40

a text message. It was a photograph

36:42

of IV. In handcuffs Schutz

36:45

off the street. John helped

36:47

arrange it. His goal was to get

36:49

2 rehab and the arrest was the first

36:51

step. His text said to us

36:53

quote, Barbara is so happy

36:55

now. These are the kind of

36:57

victims John was talking about, the ones

36:59

who motivate him to keep looking. But

37:02

what's in it for him? If

37:04

you ask him, he'll probably get around

37:06

to mentioning a twenty sixteen case he got

37:08

involved with. A seventeen

37:10

year old girl from Southwest Florida had

37:13

traveled to Miami with a friend.

37:15

So this girl ended up in Miami, and

37:19

I'm an enews to her. She was advertised

37:22

online for sex. And

37:25

she ended up being trafficked and

37:28

she was trying to figure out how she could escape,

37:31

how can I get out of here, and somebody

37:33

that she was with escaped, and then she was by

37:35

herself, how can I get out of the situation?

37:37

So a customer, John,

37:40

came along, and she shared

37:43

with him that she was trying to get out of there.

37:45

And he said, come with me. I'll

37:48

I'll help you come with me. And so she did,

37:50

and he became her trafficker. But

37:52

he he told her, I'll treat you better. So

37:56

then she was being trafficked out of a

37:58

a hotel implantation by

38:01

this guy. And Rody

38:04

saw her ad, noticed that

38:06

she looked

38:06

young, made contact and

38:09

went to the hotel

38:11

She opened the door, and this was a

38:14

I was kinda really shocked. It

38:16

was a little short blonde female I'd

38:19

be sixteen years old. Look look scared.

38:22

And I said, oh, so think I got the wrong

38:24

room. So

38:27

I left one down the elevator. I said, I think we

38:29

got a case. We got one right here. While

38:31

we're waiting at blackmail dot

38:33

six foot in his forties came down the

38:35

Wallman, went into the

38:37

room. This is Bingo. This

38:39

girl's being held, no doubt.

38:42

John called the police, and ended

38:44

up getting grilled by the detective he spoke

38:46

to. He told us that's how it always

38:48

goes. Why

38:50

am I doing this? What's my motivation?

38:53

How do I know she's involved in 2? How

38:56

do I know she's being held against her will?

38:58

How do I know she's a victim of human trafficking?

39:02

And it's kinda fine now because, you know,

39:04

Pitts same thing. I said, well, I'm gonna tell

39:06

you

39:06

detective, I understand a Saturday, you

39:09

and your family,

39:11

If you can't come out, no problem. I'm dialing 911,

39:14

and when the patrol cars get in a ribbons, I'm

39:16

knocking that

39:16

door. With him around you.

39:19

He came out.

39:21

Long hold, this girl was being

39:23

held from two weeks from Naples,

39:26

Florida. He was

39:28

having sex with her for two weeks. In

39:30

a program, myself coming in

39:32

the door that

39:33

day, six customers came

39:35

over from that page at that time. Have

39:38

sex with his minor.

39:40

We pulled the case from the Plantation Florida

39:42

Police Department. The records about

39:44

the incident at the Lincoln Hotel on Peter's

39:46

Road match John's account. But

39:49

his name isn't mentioned anywhere and

39:51

that still irks him. Detective

39:54

Robert Zaragoza wrote in the police report

39:56

that he received a tip Schutz didn't elaborate.

39:59

It was only when the prosecutor subpoenaed

40:01

John that his role was revealed in case

40:03

records. The trafficker

40:06

that John saw going into the hotel room was

40:08

prosecuted, pleaded no contest, and

40:10

received a sentence of five years

40:12

of probation. He was thirty

40:14

four, the victim was seventeen. His

40:17

probation expires in twenty twenty four.

40:20

John doesn't get awards or recognition

40:23

for his successes. The girl

40:25

who's referred to in court records only as RLH,

40:29

had been considering jumping out of the hotel

40:31

room's fourth floor Wondery,

40:33

but she didn't have to. She

40:35

was rescued.

40:41

Back in John's car, our team is approaching

40:44

their target tell. I'm gonna

40:45

hang up, Robert. I'll

40:48

call you back.

40:50

Okay? I'm

40:50

gonna hang up, Robert. I'll call you back. Okay?

40:53

Okay. Bye bye.

40:55

Just the roadway in. The hotel

40:57

consists of three buildings, each

40:59

two stories and painted Robin's egg blue.

41:01

There's a sports bar behind the building with

41:04

a huge navy awning that covers the entire

41:06

width of the parking lot.

41:07

Probably Pitts their their

41:10

guests are all cruise ship people

41:12

that stay here. Port Port Port

41:14

Port Portwood Lakes. When they when they get back,

41:16

they stay over a couple days too. Okay?

41:21

Because it's probably maybe

41:25

a two star hotel. You

41:27

know, Pitts nothing nothing nice

41:30

about it at all.

41:31

Well, the manager we 2 to disagrees. He

41:34

pointed out that the hotel gets three stars

41:36

and bragged about its cleanliness and popularity

41:38

with travelers. Its website

41:41

Schutz accommodations that won't break the bank where

41:43

you get the basics you need so you can focus

41:45

on your

41:46

vacation. That's the the

41:48

the lobby. The issue is you

41:50

come here, you don't kind of go 2 the lobby,

41:53

get to the rooms. All the rooms are outside

41:55

entry, which is a problem.

41:57

So he can the owner,

41:59

because the GM can say, we don't see anything

42:01

going on. Now Schutz go 2 our lobby because they

42:03

do. They park here and go into

42:06

the room. Now, don't see you're

42:08

not gonna any of the young women here

42:10

walking around -- Mhmm. -- selling their

42:12

goods. Just people have no idea. They're

42:15

not, you know, today none of these

42:17

are working the streets don't

42:18

work, they don't have to. It's

42:21

all done by text messages and phone calls.

42:23

John is still texting with the girls he contacted

42:25

earlier. His goal is to arrange

42:27

a meeting in one of the rooms. When

42:29

he finally gets a room number, we

42:31

drive around the building looking for it. Schutz

42:34

there's another car driving around 2,

42:36

a white Buick circling slowly. At

42:39

one point, the car stops about fifteen

42:41

or twenty feet away from John's Kia

42:43

and watches our team for a long while.

42:46

The Buick puts them on edge, but

42:49

they find parking spot near the room and

42:51

get ready. So fifty

42:53

one twenty nine. It's

43:00

room fifty one twenty nine, and the

43:03

team heads through a small vestibule down

43:05

a long row of rooms hidden from the parking

43:07

lot by a row of hedges. They

43:09

stand out of view as John KNox.

43:12

The door opens and he disappears

43:15

inside.

43:21

John's in the room for about two minutes.

43:24

Then comes back down the hall to meet us.

43:26

You guys, Columbia, and one bike here wanna

43:28

swap to us. So basically, I throw it

43:30

going to the lobby. Okay.

43:32

There you go.

43:36

So we'll see. Okay.

43:38

So I'm gonna go back 2 to draw again.

43:41

And then at that

43:42

point, I wanna walk him in.

43:43

No. Okay?

43:46

Yep. We followed the

43:48

plan. John knocks again

43:50

and the woman answers. She's

43:52

wearing a cocktail dress, stilettos, and

43:55

heavy makeup. And she's jumpy at

43:57

the side of us, but agrees to let us in.

43:59

She won't allow us to record, but

44:01

she tells us her name is Milana, and

44:04

she came to the area recently from another part

44:06

of the state. She's

44:12

a single mother of an eleven year old son.

44:15

And she says she turned to sex work to help

44:17

pay her bills. There's

44:20

so much we wanted to ask her. About

44:23

young girls she may have encountered, Schutz

44:25

the traffickers, but the hotels, but

44:28

the team won't get a chance. Melana

44:31

says she doesn't feel safe. She

44:33

has when she calls an agent who

44:35

takes half her pay. We

44:38

have no way to know if that agent was

44:40

in white buick that was watching. Milana

44:44

says she wants to tell us her stories. Ones

44:46

that would terrify

44:47

us. So she takes her phone number

44:50

and the team leaves her in the darkened hotel

44:52

room. We

44:54

never heard from her again.

45:05

John took us to the roadway end that day

45:07

in January, but there's nothing

45:09

about the roadway that makes it better potential

45:12

venue for traffickers than many others

45:14

just like it. There

45:16

are thousands across Florida and the country.

45:19

Trafficing could happen at any of them.

45:22

And in fact, the manager of the

45:24

roadway is adamant that he and his staff

45:26

are trained to spot many kinds of illegal

45:28

activity, including trafficking. And

45:31

that they work closely with law enforcement to

45:33

prevent it. We went

45:35

back to the roadway later in the year to

45:37

find out what they know, and what steps

45:39

they take to keep their rooms safe. That's

45:42

where Britney met General Manager Izzy

45:45

Pitts. And he was,

45:47

well, let's just say Izzy was more

45:49

than happy to talk about all of that

45:52

and about Sean

45:53

Roddie.

45:55

Let me tell you this. This hotel takes any

45:57

form of child trafficking extremely

46:01

seriously.

46:02

Brittany and another reporter David Fleschler

46:05

were talking to Izzy outside the hotel's front

46:07

entrance as guests were coming and going.

46:10

was a busy day for the roadway, where is

46:12

he been the general manager for more than

46:14

a

46:14

decade? All our people have

46:16

completed the human trafficking.

46:21

That's that's mandated by the state

46:23

and by our hotel. We

46:26

have a policy if you see on the front that says

46:28

see something, say something. And

46:31

we have cooperated with the FBI.

46:34

And BSO local law enforcement greatly

46:38

to remove any and all human

46:41

trafficking if there is a situation.

46:44

And our hotels are a very good

46:46

hotel. Izzy said there are privacy rules

46:48

that they have to follow. Basically,

46:50

what people do in their rooms is their own

46:52

business. Unless management believes something

46:55

illegal is going on or hotel rules

46:57

are being broken. You know, we're

46:59

not here to start asking whether you're a

47:01

lawyer or a doctor or, you know,

47:03

a police officer, what are you doing in the room? Why you're

47:05

checking in? In order to check-in, you need proper ID,

47:08

and you need proper

47:09

payment, and you must be twenty one years older,

47:11

older. ISI repeated this position time

47:14

and time again as we talk to him. Surely,

47:16

part of his defensiveness comes from

47:18

John Rody's

47:19

persistence. His repeated texting,

47:21

the sending of images of girls John

47:24

says are staying at

47:24

the roadway.

47:25

You know, I know he texts you quite

47:27

a bit. Yeah. What have you done when

47:29

he says, I this young looking

47:32

girl is staying in the

47:34

roadway. If and when he allegedly

47:36

says something like that, we do you know, I'm not

47:38

gonna keep calling him back and forth. He is not

47:40

law enforcement. We constantly tell him if he sees something

47:43

thinks, because if Pitts, call law enforcement versus

47:45

fact, but if he tells us of something, we

47:47

do go and check and we verify. Is this

47:49

person older than twenty one? Is

47:51

there anything illegal going on? If

47:54

there's none, well, there's no cause. We're

47:56

not law enforcement. Schutz if that person were

47:58

under the age of eighteen or

48:00

anything illegal were to be going

48:01

on, we will be the first person.

48:03

So what do you when when Rody texts you,

48:05

what do you what goes through your mind? Well,

48:08

we we take we take any and all serious

48:11

allegations seriously. What what I

48:13

I don't know what he wants. He I don't know if he wants is

48:15

what 2 just call he sees this girl and he wants

48:17

us to throw out. We're not gonna throw people out because

48:19

these days you have lawyers and lawsuits.

48:21

So if I if I if I ask you, 0II

48:24

are you a prostitute? If I start claiming you're a prostitute

48:26

without any proof that you're a

48:27

prostitute, you're gonna sue me. Right?

48:30

We check the records of police activity at

48:32

Izzy's hotel. To see if

48:34

John Rody's persistence there has yielded

48:36

results in the form of trafficking arrests

48:38

or police investigations. Not

48:41

that we could tell. In two and

48:43

a half years since the summer of twenty

48:45

nineteen, there were forty nine pages

48:47

of police calls to the roadway in. None

48:49

of them appeared to be investigations into

48:52

sex trafficking. The

49:05

full story of what happened to Marina

49:07

Ralph in room three thirty four of the extended

49:09

stay may never be known. Was

49:12

her overdose an accident, a

49:14

suicide, or had her

49:16

trafficers killed her with a fatal shot of

49:18

drugs? It's called a hotshot.

49:21

And it's one of the dark endings some girls

49:23

face when the traffickers decide they're

49:26

no longer useful. If

49:28

Zooey Wallman had any answers, it's

49:30

too late to get them. In

49:33

May of twenty twenty one, Zoey's body

49:35

was found on mattress in an empty lot

49:37

along North Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale.

49:40

She was twenty years old and like Marina

49:42

had over dosed on a mix of cocaine and

49:44

fentanyl. The

49:47

tragic path for most girls like Marina

49:49

begins well before they step foot in hotel.

49:52

And if they're more fortunate than Marina and

49:54

can escape, the nightmare could

49:56

linger for years. Sometimes

49:59

forever.

50:21

In early January of twenty twenty

50:23

three, about six weeks after this episode

50:25

was initially released, A young woman's

50:28

body was found along a busy highway

50:30

that cuts through the Florida Everglades.

50:32

She was identified as Ivy

50:34

Marie Beadell. The granddaughter

50:37

of Barbara Leckler who had spent years

50:39

begging law enforcement to help rescue Ivy

50:41

from sex traffickers. After

50:44

John Rody helped get Ivy arrested in the

50:46

summer of twenty twenty two, she was

50:48

released and then arrested again in October.

50:52

Barbara last spoke to Ivy two

50:54

days before Christmas, and Ivy

50:56

was in good Pitts, promising

50:58

to stay at the addiction treatment center where

51:00

she had been tent. But the

51:03

next day, Ivy cut off her ankle monitor

51:05

and fled. Two weeks later,

51:08

a body was found off interstate seventy

51:10

five, at the edge of the Everglades, and

51:12

Ivy was identified by her fingerprints.

51:15

An initial autopsy showed no sign

51:17

of foul play. But a criminal investigation

51:20

into her death was launched. Follow

51:23

Felonious Florida on Twitter, Instagram, or

51:25

Facebook for updates on the investigation.

51:30

On the next episode of Felonious, For

51:34

me,

51:37

for me, home

51:40

was seen so far away. And

51:43

then as a kid, You

51:47

don't know how

51:49

to get out. Like, you really don't 2

51:52

don't really think it's really You're in

51:54

something. You really don't think you're in something after

51:56

a while. Shanica Ampa didn't

51:59

come from a broken home. She wasn't

52:01

on drugs she was a straight a student.

52:04

Still, something made her a perfect

52:06

target for sex traffickers. So

52:08

at just eleven years old, she was

52:10

coerced by monsters. And used as

52:12

human merchandise for seven harrowing

52:14

years. Incredibly, she

52:17

managed to escape,

52:19

Within Schutz is out? What is

52:21

out? Shanica Ampa's nightmare

52:23

didn't end when she got out.

52:31

If you are a victim of human trafficking or

52:33

believe you know a girl who may be in trafficking

52:35

situation, call the national human

52:38

trafficking hotline at 1888373788.

52:44

You can find more human trafficking resources

52:46

online at human trafficking hotline

52:49

dot org. These and other

52:51

resources can also be found at Felonious

52:53

Florida dot com or in the episode

52:55

notes. Thank

53:07

you for listening to this episode of Felonious

53:09

Florida. Investigative journalism

53:11

like this isn't possible without the help of

53:13

our subscribers. Go to florida

53:16

dot com to find out how you can help.

53:18

You can listen to more episodes online

53:20

at Felonious florida dot com or

53:22

on the Wondery Pitts and Apple Podcast apps.

53:26

If you like our show, please tell your friends about

53:28

it and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and

53:30

Instagram. The South Florida Schutz

53:32

Sentinel's full investigation into human

53:34

trafficking and the cases featured in this podcast

53:37

is online now at sunsettingle dot

53:39

com slash trafficing and orlandocental

53:42

dot com slash trafficing. Felonious,

53:44

Florida is produced by the Sun Sentinel and

53:46

Association with Wondery, reporting

53:48

in writing by Britney and Spencer

53:50

Norris. Authoring by David Chutes

53:53

with additional editing by Robin Webb and

53:55

Gretchen Day Bryant, Sound Design and

53:57

Production by Sean Pitts. Audio

53:59

recordings and photography by Mike Stalker

54:01

and Carlin Jean, soundtrack by

54:03

The Wolf Music, website design

54:05

and development by Carbell multimedia, And

54:08

I'm David Schutz, host and producer of

54:10

Flora. Felonious,

54:18

Florida was created by Lisa Arthur

54:20

and Juan Ortega. Hey,

54:25

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54:27

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