Four people have been arrested on human trafficking charges after they were accused of allowing a 15-year-old girl to dance in a strip club.
This is the first time the owner or operator of a strip club has been arrested on these charges in Orange County. Channel 9 met with Willie Sierer last year when someone was shot and killed outside of his strip club on Orange Blossom Trail. Sierer said the shooting was not connected to behavior in his club.
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However, investigators said they found evidence that Sierer is responsible for human trafficking involving a young child at his strip club. The investigative report is nearly 300-pages and some of the details are difficult to read “We believe the first time that she performed there, she was 15,” said Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation Director Ron Stucker.
A routine traffic stop by an Orange County deputy on Orange Blossom Trail in February of 2021 led investigators to start digging into allegations of human trafficking.
Documents show a young girl in the car was ousted as a dancer at “Flash Dancers.” A two-year investigation sparked the arrests of Sierer, general manager Johnathan Johnson, assistant manager and “house mom” Kimberly Sinclair and manager Paul Delavalle.
The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation asserted they all worked in an operator capacity and had the authority and ability to direct and control workers.
In the United States, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) is the primary federal law addressing sex trafficking. It defines sex trafficking as the use of force, fraud, or coercion to compel a person into commercial sex acts, and establishes penalties for traffickers.
The TVPA also created the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, which is responsible for the development of the annual Trafficking in Persons Report and the coordination of anti-trafficking efforts within the U.S. government.
Other countries have their own laws related to sex trafficking. For example, in the United Kingdom, the Sexual Offenses Act 2003 criminalizes trafficking for sexual exploitation, while in Australia, the Criminal Code Act 1995 prohibits trafficking in persons for sexual servitude.
Overall, laws related to sex trafficking aim to prevent the exploitation of vulnerable individuals and hold traffickers accountable for their actions. However, enforcement of these laws can be challenging, and there is still much work to be done to combat this form of exploitation.