Federal lawsuit aims to completely shut down the Nevada brothel industry

via TheNevadaIndependent

A woman who says she was sex trafficked through a Nevada brothel plans to file a federal lawsuit Monday that seeks to overturn the state’s legalized prostitution in rural counties.

The lawsuit, which will be filed in federal district court in Reno, argues that legal brothels contradict two federal laws that criminalize human trafficking across state lines for the purpose of commercial sex acts. The state of Nevada, the Legislature and Gov. Steve Sisolak are named as defendants.

Plaintiff Rebekah Charleston, who was born in Texas, alleges in the lawsuit that a man she initially considered her boyfriend trafficked her for “purposes of commercial sexual exploitation,” which included a stint working at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Northern Nevada. Her trafficker eventually brought her to Las Vegas, where profit margins were higher in the city’s illegal sex industry, according to the civil complaint.

Reno-based attorney Jason Guinasso, who’s representing Charleston on a pro bono basis, said he hopes the federal court affirms the connection that, according to the lawsuit, exists between Nevada’s legal brothels and illegal sex trafficking.

“There are people just like my client, Rebekah, who have been substantially harmed as a result of allowing this legal system to exist in opposition to a federal law,” he said.

The lawsuit marks the latest maneuver to outlaw legalized prostitution in sparsely populated Nevada counties, a decades-old tradition that added to the state’s anything-goes mystique.

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Nevada’s history with the sex industry stretches back to the 1800s when mining flourished in the West, giving way to brothels. But it wasn’t until the Storey County Commission officially sanctioned the Mustang Ranch Brothel in 1971 that Nevada had its first legal brothel.

The Legislature went on to pass a law allowing prostitution in certain licensed brothels. As it stands now, counties with populations of less than 700,000 residents can issue such licenses. According to the lawsuit, 21 brothels operate in the following seven Nevada counties: Elko, Lander, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Storey and White Pine.

Efforts to end legalized prostitution in two Nevada counties last year failed to gain much traction. An anti-brothel campaign in Nye County couldn’t muster enough signatures to reach the ballot, and, in Lyon County, voters soundly rejected an advisory question that asked whether the county commissioners should rescind its brothel ordinance.

Guinasso helped coordinate those campaigns in Nye and Lincoln counties. It wasn’t his first foray into the anti-prostitution advocacy world. His interest in the issue started after attending a small fundraiser for Awaken, a Reno nonprofit that helps women transition out of the commercial sex industry. Since then, Guinasso estimates that he has offered his legal assistance to more than a dozen sex-trafficking victims who needed help with matters such as vacating their records.

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