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• Bella weighs in

  First of all I want to applaud Christina for her the research she conducted at the brothels and for having the stomach to sit near Hoffman to conduct this interview. Bella is the founder of the Rhode Island chapter of Coyote. She has been a sex worker for over 30 years and did work in Rhode Island during the time that indoor sex work was decriminalized. Bella is a sex worker rights activist and networks with many other organizations.

  Let's go over some of Hof's claims, OK he claims he can not advertise, yet there are ads on reviews sites adverting the girls that work there. So that is not a true statement.

  The next thing I noticed is when they talked about past porn starts working at the brothels and how much money they make, they seem to make the readers thing this is the norm. When in fact the brothel workers are not making even close to these amounts as there are very few clients coming into the brothels lately. Lets get back to reality as it wasn't long ago I heard of a worker in another brothel that jumped the fence because she owed so much back rent and was not making any money. Another person I know worked at a brothel for a whole month and only saw 2 or 3 clients, and all of her earnings went to paying rent, thus she did not leave with any profit.

  Even what Hof says about billC36 is utter bullshit as the women were being murdered because they had no rights and no protection under the law. Anytime a sex worker can not report violence and is sacred to reach out to the police this is what creates the prefect playground for bad cops and other predators to continue robbing, raping, exploiting, beating and murdering them. Just like the US most Canadian sex workers are independent escorts working from a private location, and before Bedford it was illegal for 2 or 3 escorts to share the same work space as they claimed these were brothels. Ironically when Hof bragged to the media that he wants to go to Canada and open brothels even the sex workers were upset. In my opinion no adult business that has a stable of women should be owned or managed by a MAN. As this is implying that women are too stupid or helpless to run their own personal affairs and this is OFFENSIVE.

  Hof still doesn't seem to understand how prostitution lobbying works, as we already know no politician will stand up for the rights of sex workers. But what Hof doesn't mention is that he already knows that through the efforts of "The Erotic Service Providers Legal Educational and Research Project" that we are very close to filing the US constitutional challenge on prostitution laws between consenting adults. Now the reason Hof does not support these efforts is because once sex work is decriminalized he will be out of business. Notice through the whole interview Hof never mentions the rights of these women who work for him, let alone the majority of US sex workers. See our legal challenge here http://www.gofundme.com/litigatetoemancipate

  I am sure until decriminalization is a reality for US sex worker that Hof will still be able to find women to work in his brothels, after all there will always will be desperate women. I think we can all understand that if any one of us where cold and hungry enough we could be convinced to turn a trick for a blanket and a burger. Many of the women have no clue what the ramifications of registering with the sheriff's dept. Hof claims they have to check for warrants well lets ask why it is legal for me to work at Walmart with a warrant. Then lets examine this fun fact that all the women that register become a matter of public record, so any stalker or person that wants to discriminate against them can go look up who is registered as a whore. This information could also be used to take away custody of these women children, or to discriminate against them for housing and further employment. Why is it the sheriffs has to confirm the person has ID and is a adult, as all other adult business simple keep a copy of the workers ID on file. The brothel workers have to apply for a new permit every 3 months so I guess that is to make sure none of the workers are getting YOUNGER so this seems to me more like "paying off the local cops" than anything else. No other person in the US is required to get a work permit other than a minor under 16 or a illegal immigrant other than sex workers and Las Vegas dancers" yet the government seems to think that there is good reason to keep track who is a whore and who isn't.

  I never heard Hof talk about the unfair discrimination his workers face, and as far as I know he hasn't done ANYTHING to stand up for their rights. I know a worker that took Hof's check to a local bank that refused to cash it. I bet the bank had no concern about the money being in Hof's account, the bank just wanted to discriminate against the sex workers who worked at the brothels. I never heard Hof make a sound in the media when Chase bank closed the accounts of all porn performers. Now another fun fact is that Hof claims these women are his workers but also claims that they are not employees, so he takes 1/2 of each womens earnings,and then he makes them pay rent every day, and yet many courts have ruled that dancers that are required to work shifts and are put on a schedule are employees. Yet Hof does not pay for any of the women's expenses, nor does he give them any benefits, yet he takes 1/2 their earnings and this is what we call a POVERTY PIMP . We have even seen illegal pimps in the media that provided vacation and maturity leave for the women in their stables, some even bought the women their own houses.

  Hmm so Hof went on reviews sites and claimed he has had sex with every women that has ever worked for him, and claims it was about 6,000 women, yet now he admits that this was a HUGE LIE and he also says he is sacred to sleep with non sex workers because 1 in 4 have a std. What Hoffman doesn't tell you is that he has been trying to get many of his workers to have unprotected sex with him. I find that people that are worried about stds' are not suing condoms themselves. Now the brothel rules say all clients must use a condom for all sex acts, but Hof's brothel leaves it up to the workers if they want to allow a man to perform oral sex on them without a dental dam. Here is another fun fact US sex worker have less std's than the general public and since most of them don't work in brothels this goes to show that they are smart enough to use condoms without having a pimp or being forced to live and work in a brothel if they want to work legally.

  The funniest part of the interview is Hof's claims that on a average Sunday he can give a women 30 to 40 organism, so I guess Hof can't tell when a women is faking...Most confident men do not feel the need to brag abot how good they are in bed..

  Hoff calls the independent sex workers Coyotes well lets get some facts straight. It was COYOTE who filed suit in Rhode Island and challenged the laws and got indoor sex work decriminalized from 1979 until 2009. That case was COYOTE VS ROBERTS. The women were free to work from home, hotels or for agencies or spa's. All the spa's charged the client a 50 dollar fee, and then the client and worker negotiated and the workers got to keep all their earnings and they did not pay any rent. The women picked which shifts they wanted to work and they did not have to live on the premises and they didn't have any problem with std's nor did they have 1 case of trafficking during those 30 years.

  Now Hof has claimed in other media interviews that only his brothels can stop trafficking, yet if you go on netflix and watch the 2013 award winning film "American Courtesans" you can hear Gina De Palma say she worked at the Mustang Ranch when she was just 14, under the control of a pimp, who would come back after 2 or 3 weeks pick her up and take all her money. While I am not saying there are currently any victims of trafficking at these brothels lets face it when you make the women live on the premises it would be easy to use intimation to control them.

  The brothel workers have NO LABOR RIGHTS, they can't join unions because they are not employees, thus they have no right to agency or labor rights. So if you are a erotic service provider and you are tired of the discrimination, then join the Erotic Service Providers Union at espu-ca.org

  Just as Walmart makes billion each year by using Americans that work for slave wages, Hof also makes millions while the women who work for him have no rights, and they have to hand over 1/2 of all their earnings,

  Enclosing I would like to invite Hof to a public debate with me or other sex worker rights activist, and lets see if he has big enough balls to take us up on this offer.

  Now lets hope the world can see the REAL reason Hof is against decriminalization of consensual sex work between adults.

  • "US sex worker have less std’s than the general public" There's in fact no way to know this since 1) the rates of regular, comprehensive STI testing are low among both groups, 2) unless they test at a sex worker community clinic there's no way to determine that the person reporting an STI to a county health department was in fact a sex worker, and, 3) "sex worker" is a very broad category. To make this claim in a statistically valid way, one would have to compare SIMILAR populations in terms of age, sexual preference, whether they are sexually active, etc… It's not a one-size fits all proposition.

    "[U]ntil decriminalization is a reality for US sex worker [sic] ... Hof will still be able to find women to work in his brothels, after all there will always will be desperate women." That's actually quite an ugly and insulting comment to make about your fellow sex workers. There are many reasons why women choose to work in a licensed brothel. For one thing, it's LEGAL and they can't get arrested. For another, if a client tries to attack them, there are other people around who can kick the client's ass to the curb. Others like the structure of brothel work/living. Your remark is not far off from what the prohibitionists say -- "women FALL INTO prostitution out of desperation." For some that's true, just as it's true that people with few skills, low intelligence and/or low ambition "fall into" working at Dairy Queen. Like water, people find their own level, and there are plenty of women who love working at licensed brothels. No one has the right to take that choice away from them.

    "In my opinion no adult business that has a stable of women should be owned or managed by a MAN. As this is implying that women are too stupid or helpless to run their own personal affairs and this is OFFENSIVE." -- An utterly nonsensical statement. It implies no such thing. YOU are implying that all men are predatory, which is far more offensive that what you opine to. There is no law that says women can't OWN a brothel, and in fact the managers of the brothels -- even the Hof brothels, are women.

    "Most confident men do not feel the need to brag about [sic] how good they are in bed" That's a personal attack, and is out of place in a critique of his stand on sex work. Furthermore, if you'd like a list of bragging statements made by women about their sexuality/prowess, I could provide you a book's worth.

• Decriminalization is the way to go. Deep throat below said: Like water, people find their own level, and there are plenty of women who love working at licensed brothels. No one has the right to take that choice away from them.

  Too bad our right to engage in consensual sex work HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY, and by and large sex workers do not want to hand over half their pay to someone JUST TO AVOID ARREST for doing something they have every right to do. The brothels are good for some but not so good for anyone who doesn't bank big. Too many negative stories of women being taken advantage of by brothels, and the fact that these women are promoting Obamacare said it all to me. They have zero labor rights, zero protection, they are getting screwed in more ways than one. So yeah, I get Bella's comment and as a fellow sex worker I wasn't offended at all. No empowered woman in her right mind would hand Hof or anyone else half her earnings. Desperate because the risk of arrest keeps women from feeling safe to work as independants. And we don't need a pimp hanging around to make sure we are safe either, certainly not at a cost of half of our earnings or if you owe the brothel ALL of your earnings to be able to leave. I know of a woman who had to borrow $600 to leave the brothel. I don't agree that brothels should only be owned by women because women can be equally predatorial and abuse the women working under them just as men do- as I've experienced myself at a non erotic massage facility as well as having observed another situation at a commercial dungeon where the 'head mistress' stole her apprentices tips and would take a 75% cut of their earnings under the guise of a 'training fee' situation. We can leave the gender lens out of the discussion. LABOR RIGHTS and DECRIMNALZATION is the way to go here!

• One more thing- zoning shouldn't be a big deal. 1000 ft away from any residence, church or school. Just as a strip club or medical marijuana dispensary does! NOT A BIG DEAL. it doesn't need to be in a commercial environment. I've had my studio voluntarily in an industrial unit for almost a decade now. I did this consciously out of respect for others, not wanting neighbors to be impacted by my business. Problem now is, since the legalization of marijuana I am now competing with growers and dispensaries for the same zoning and rent has also gone up up UP. there is always a solution!

  • One of the issues with forcing sex workers into industrial or commercial areas to work is the lack of public transportation in those areas. Lack of transportation options benefits capitalist, primarily corporate capitalist-like him who wants to extend his domination= the walmart brothel.

• LOL

  law banning men from owning and operating sex businesses where the majority of workers are women.

  Followed by a law banning retards from the internet..

• Maxine, first of all there’s a brothel owned by a husband and wife last time I checked. If you think more women should own brothels, go buy one.

  In America, our goal is to NOT discriminate based on gender; you are endorsing reverse discrimination apparently on the grounds that men just can’t be trusted because they’re all oppressors or some other patriarchy bullshit. No one has alleged that anyone was forced to have sex with any owner or manager as a condition of employment.

  Have women been turned away from owning or operating Nevada brothels based on gender? If not, then regardless of what your other complaints are about brothels, there’s no gender problem in brothel ownership. Full stop.

• Okay, since I’m the one who interviewed Hof and who is collecting data in his brothels, I feel the need to respond and to clarify some of Bella’s points. First off, it IS illegal for brothels to advertise in Nevada, he is correct on that. Individual girls can advertise as providers but the brothels themselves cannot advertise on billboards or in public spaces. The way that Hof gets around this is by having billboards that say “brothel,” but then have things such as “hot sauce, souvenirs, etc” listed underneath. Sex for money is not and can never be advertised in the same way.

  Next, porn stars and money in brothels: he does not make this sound like the norm. I was the one who asked about porn stars in the brothels and he gave an honest response. Of course it is not the norm for a civilian to make the same amount as a star, and I don’t think he makes this claim anywhere. However, it IS possible for civilians to make damn good money, just as some make little to no money. This is the norm for many adult businesses where workers are independent contractors. Using examples of workers who made no money does not take away from the fact that some make great money, and on average most make at least enough to get by. Even on a dead week, I made much more than average, but this really isn’t the point of the interview.

  The claim that only women should own brothels not only blows my mind, but it’s extremely offensive. Why on earth are two women who are for labor rights trying to now institute gender discrimination in commercial sex businesses? Really? We should be moving forwards, not backwards. I don’t feel the need to say much more on this other than it’s a ridiculous idea. Not to mention that there is no law preventing women from owning and operating brothels. Also, who's to say a woman would be a better boss, and on what grounds? Is it because a woman is less likely to have sex with her employees? What about if the woman is a lesbian, or bisexual? Is she now deemed a predator as a male boss would be? It’s infantilizing to women to assume that we all need protection from our big bad scary male predator bosses. This is starting to sound like the same tired old patriarchy/feminist argument and I’m confused as to how it fits into labor rights.

  Dennis Hof is a business man, not an activist. This should be clear by now. He is likely against decriminalization because it will hurt his business, we all know this. He is a capitalist trying to make a buck in the world, and he’s doing a damn good job. I can’t fault his for that, even though I myself am for full decriminalization. However, Hof has been a great boss to me and his workers are treated much better than in other brothels. Bella, you cite examples of workers in Mustang Ranch from 20-30 years ago, a brothel owned by a different man who was eventually busted and fled to Mexico.

  In sum, it’s unfair and inaccurate to say that workers in the brothels have no labor rights, and this is coming from someone who works in a brothel. I’m sure many would echo my sentiments. We, as brothel workers, do not need other sex workers shaming us for our choice to work in a brothel or for other sex workers to assume what our experiences are like. This is exactly what the antis do to us; they assume we have no agency and that we all need saving and protecting.

• No one here that I have read 'shamed' you or brothel workers because they have an opinion as they do regarding brothels. I'd call that a melodramatic response, but I can see how you'd take it personal.

  I would sincerely like to know more about these 'labor rights' you have mentioned involved with American brothels.

  Also, are there health benefits? Insurance? The ability to organize and have a say in how things are done? What if a provider is hurt on the job? What happens then? What if a conflict arises, is their a system in place to ensure that the brothel worker's labor rights are acknowledged and a course of action is taken if there is a claim of abuse? if so, who facilitates it? There are a variety of angles we could be coming from in terms of labor rights.

  In the least being in his position (he can reach a larger audience than someone who isn't as well known) he could promote decriminalization, why? because its the right thing to do from a stand point of harm reduction and human rights (never mind this little thing called sovereignty), but he isn't interested in that, he is only interested in covering his own ass. Clearly. He can't be THAT ignorant as to what sex workers and their clients are dealing with outside the bubble of the Bunny Ranch and how wrong it is.

  MANY people are harmed by the criminalization of prostitution. Lives are being devastated, not by sex work, but through arrest and the subsequent circumstances created out of that arrest.

  But what does Hof care? Clearly he doesn't. No he doesn't have to care either. He has every right to be a self serving prick. SMILE.

• Christina - I am not the only person who has tried to speak out about something they've seen or experienced at the brothels before that's less than flattering, but is the truth. In return, they've suffered great damage, and/or received threats. I received something in my email yesterday stating that "nothing but the truth would be tolerated". Now I'm not sure what he means by "tolerated" but it sure implies a threat to me. Especially in light of previous ones. You say you are going to "print the whole truth". Well I want to know what steps are you going to take in case you want to print something that is less than flattering?

• >Followed by a law banning retards from the internet..<

  careful what you wish for lol you might not make the cut.

• Ill take my chances

• PS - if you check my facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/sexworkersanonymousofficialpage you'll see a copy of this email from Dennis for yourself.

• Christina - the conditions you described from when Joe ran the Mustang Ranch you talk about being "30 years ago" alongside the claim that "Dennis treats the woman better" illustrates the point that the treatment of the women in these brothels is entirely up to the discretion of the brothel owners at the moment. Dennis isn't going to be around forever, and some of these brothel owners have done horrible terrible things from what eye witnesses have told me. I keep hearing "let's treat it like a business" yet I don't see it being treated "just like a business". For one thing, I know that when someone goes in to work in a body shop they are given more warning about the toxic hazards they are about to walk into than the brothel workers are given at the licensing board. While you were an educated women walking in there - many of these women aren't. There is no training provided at the licensing board - nor at the women there given any "heads up" about the fact that this license can block them in the future from getting real estate licenses, passing the bar, getting a seat on the SEC, and even cost them the children in a custody battle as are just some of the complaints our members have told me has happened to them that they were not advised of when they took out that license. While you are exposed to way more hazards health wise than any other profession - you are not given any special types of disability funds, retirement, pension, etc. If you were an actor or musician - you would be able to get access to such things including even special rates into special retirement and nursing homes when you get older because the actors and musicians know that they lived on an erratic cash income just as sex workers. I have spoken to Joe Conforte, and Dennis Hof many times about the fact I do not have a problem with the legal brothels - but what I do have a problem with is the fact that women are not fully advised what they are about to walk into, they are also not give any type of exit program when they leave - nor referrals to any that do exist. When I have confronted them about this I have been told flat out directly that they do not want them to succeed in exiting because they have quote spent way too much time and money into "recruiting" these women into the business to do anything to help them leave. When I have said to Dennis that I never said "help them leave" but to help them when it's time to leave - he's made it very clear he will work these women until their legs fall off. When I've asked about the women who contract HIV and can no longer work at the brothel legally and who therefore need help to transition out of the sex industry - he just points out there are other places within the business where they can be put to work. I'm for the choice to enter the sex industry Christina - but when the choice to leave is not fully honored one has to wonder where the line of coercion is. Especially when people who have left working the brothels are either reporting they are terrified of talking about it for fear of retaliation, or they are actually harmed and/or threatened. I've witnessed it. I've been threatened. I've witnessed people who have tried to set up cab services so that some women can just pick up a phone and call for a cab to leave the brothels when they want to - who have been threatened into shutting down those businesses and then had the brothel owners tell me they want it "hard" for those women to leave in a hurry. We've sent in more than one volunteer to pick up a woman who wants to leave her pimp from the brothel who has been greeted by someone with a gun pointed at them at the brothels and threatened when they've shown up to "go home". You have to realize Christina that you are a public figure, a researcher, married to an attorney who is also a public figure, and quite exposed on social media - your experiences there at the brothels are not going to be the same as many other women there who don't have those kinds of "leverages" and outright "protections". I seriously doubt you'd witness 1/2 of the things our members have reported to us they witnessed while working up there because I simply don't think they'd let you witness it because they know who you are and they know you're writing about this and they know it's going into a report. The reason why Dennis told me to "stop speaking to him" is because I'm preparing a series of lectures to Fortune 500 corporations about the dangers of seeing illegal prostitutes these days because of what the sex traffickers are doing - I mean look at what happened to Forrest Hayes or Steve Sassa or the CEO from Glaxo as just a few examples of what's happening to the johns right now. Which is going to get worse as they criminalize the johns. The traffickers are going to use that as leverage even more. I know they're going to ask me for a "safe alternative" and you know what? I'd like to say the legal brothels are. But as long as the women are being denied any access to form a union (we've tried getting a union worker in there before and we've been denied), they refuse to allow me or to find someone to be a advocate for the prostitutes (while there's one for the brothel owners there's none for the prostitutes), they refuse to offer them health insurance before now, workers compensation (what if someone does contract HIV on the job, or what about the women who have been attacked on the job), there is not exit program offered to them, in fact they refuse to give them out our number for the last 30 years now despite the fact we've been the only program that has come to get them and help them when they've decided to leave and we've been successful and they've seen our success cases, they refuse to set up any type of retirement, pension, disability, etc., plan for the prostitutes. I mean look at Amy - she lost her retirement to Madoff and now she's having to start over? Why is it so hard for the women to be allowed to go to NA or AA meetings or why are they refused to have one brought on site or video'd in? Any other job allows them to seek drug and/or alcohol treatment. You've seen yourself you have to stay there weeks at a time and how difficult it is to leave - how are you supposed to go to daily meetings if you're in early sobriety? Do you know they have refused to allow up domestic violence counseling to come up there despite how many of those relationships up there are abusive and violent? The women come to work black and blue and no one even offers them the number to a local battered womens' hotline? There is no financial planning advice given up there and nothing structured in there to help the women plan for their retirement. Even dancers and football players are programmed for when they are too old to play any longer and they hang up the shoes or the jersey - but men like Dennis act like the party is never going to end. They also seem to think that as long as they treat the women okay - that it's all good. Well what happens if Dennis has a heart attack and dies tomorrow? There is no standard rules or policy set into place that EVERYONE has to follow up there. The reason why people talk about "female" owners being best is experience. Sex Workers Anonymous has members who have worked at brothels in the UK and Australia as well as Amsterdam and every single one of them has said the female owned and managed brothels are entirely different and BETTER than the male owned ones. I know of no single case of where I've been called about a trafficking operation in connection with a brothel that's either legal or illegal that was run or owned by a female. Not one. In 40 years - I've never heard of one where there wasn't a man behind a trafficking operation. I've answered over 500,000 phone calls - so there's your "data".

• I would like to add an update to this now that Dennis Hof and Joe Conforte have passed, so I feel I can now. Melissa Farley DID lie and fabricate in her report, and I was fooled by her good and hard. All I knew about her before she came to me in 2006 asking for help was her books. Please understand I started doing advocacy for sex workers back in the late 1970's when there was no "money" in the subject. Not only was there "no money" in this work, but it brought with it a tremendous amount of shame. It still does in many ways. I mean look at the way Michael Avenetti was just ran over the coals as the "porn star's attorney". This was a HUGE problem in sex workers even getting a private attorney when arrested falsely by the police on a prostitution charge. No attorney wanted to be "known as a whore's attorney" is the quote I would hear when I'd see woman falsely accused of anything trying to find legal counsel back in the 70's, 80's and for that matter today. You need to realize this term "sex trafficking" did not even EXIST until the year 2000. So prior to the year 2000, there was no financial gain in anything to do with prostitution, under which what we used to call "white slavery" fell under. There was "pimping" back then and "white slavery" - both of which fell under sub-categories of prostitution. Back in the 70's and 80's, we had a record number of serial killers targeting prostitutes - and if you called the cops for help back then they'd hang up on you. I was just talking to Lois Lee with Children of the Night about a documentary they're doing on the Hillside Strangler case. These cousins started out as pimps. When they were pimps and kidnapping girls off the streets and "turning them out" violently - the police did NOTHING. I like the film "Frozen Ground" because it's very realistic at the way our complaints about these maniacs were ignored back then. Why? I once took a girlfriend of mine who had been stabbed 51 times by the Hillside Strangler, who was actually two cousin pimps, to the task force who were supposed to be trying to catch this guy formed once they started targeting school girls and finally murdering some women. The detective said to our face, "I can't get a warrant based on the word of a whore" and sent us packing - to which it was another YEAR before they finally caught them. Why did he say that? I asked him that myself and his response was "Because in the eyes of the law you're a criminal - and therefore your word in court means nothing". Wow. I'm telling you all of this to explain that back prior to the year 2000 when the Trafficking Act passed that year was the first time "sex trafficking" was given federal recognition, which meant it was the first time the federal government was going to issue MONEY to victims. Prior to that, there was no point in LYING about what went on in that world other than covering your ass if you were doing something illegal. There was no incentive. If anything, books like "The Happy Hooker" were best sellers, so the only "incentive" back then if anything was to glamorize the industry. I also know this because for the 13 years I went on TV until the Act was passed, I had to tell the producers my "glamorizing" stories because if I told any of them any of the horror stories - their response was "that's too dark - our audiences don't want to hear that" and they'd shut you down entirely. I bring this up because these frauds like Somaly Mam, Chong Kim, Rachel Moran, etc., didn't exist prior to the year 2000 - because there was no financial motivation to be telling these stories back then. I'm explaining this to say that when I read Farley's books back when she published them, I had no comprehension any of it might even be fake at that time. I had no idea she was lying to me about what her real motivations were when she said she needed to interview the women I'd helped through Sex Workers Anonymous. Back in 2003, they modified the Trafficking Act to be that "only faith based groups' could receive the aid" basically. Since a 12 step group isn't supposed to accept outside donations, I didn't see the harm then of this. Especially since up to that point, the Salvation Army had donated us beds for women who needed them when escaping a pimp, and they also donated us meeting space when no one else "wanted a bunch of hookers on their property weekly" either. So I HAD a previously good relationship with them - again until money came into the equation. When this first block of money came out of the federal government, there was the question of "how is this going to be spent?" This is where Farley and I connected - because I'd been talking to these people all along to get that act passed. I was tired of our government not able to spend money on women escaping pimps when they would give freely to drug addicts. I was tired of seeing them REFUSE to provide us with any federally funded services because we were "criminals". I wanted that to change. I was tired of seeing women who were sex workers denied access to a battered womens' shelter simply because of what she did for a living. Imagine Christina if you were being battered by your husband, and because you're a "known prostitute", the battered womens' shelter REFUSES to help you simply by virtue of you "being a criminal"? Well that's the way it was back then, and I had hoped this Act would change this. The money was to be spent to create a system to help these women. So of course the Salvation Army sent out a person to sit down with me and ask me "how should we do this?" I in turn said that we needed to have a system that was SEPARATE from the police. One look at the Celeste Guap case, and you have an idea why I'd say that. I myself was the victim of false arrest by LAPD. I've been raped by LAPD because I was a prostitute. So hell no I didn't want them to be the ones questioning a man or woman as to whether they were being trafficked or pimped when in fact it could very well be THEM as shown by the Chris Butler case to name but one of a case where there is a law enforcement officer being the trafficker. I said flatly that if they wanted to actually go after traffickers in this country, then they'd have to set up a system that was SEPARATE from the police entirely. That means the potential victims questioned by someone other than law enforcement, not in the police station, but on neutral ground, and by someone who was not going to protect the cops, but only keep the victims protection in mind. I told them the problem was we needed more than money to do this as I did not know one cop that wanted to arrest another cop, a prosecutor that wanted to file against a cop, nor a judge that wanted to put a cop behind bars. That point is clearly illustrated in all the police brutality cases, especially against people of color. So I explained that if they REALLY wanted to create a system to go after traffickers, then we would need translators because of how most victims don't speak English, and we also needed to have a special system of prosecution will to prosecute ANYONE - and we'd have to talk about the "immunity" afforded most law enforcement. That combined with the fact very few attorneys want to even take on a civil case against the police - we would need a special system to address sex trafficking. Their response then was "can you prove what you're saying is true?" This was in 2006 mind you before even the Chris Butler case had come to the public's attention. So what I know, and what the PUBLIC knows are two different things at this point in time. This is where Farley came into the picture and what I was told - I was told that Farley had been given a grant by the state department to see if what I was saying was true. If PROVEN true, they said they'd agree to my suggestions about setting up a separate system from law enforcement. So of course I'm going to want to prove this and I just opened up my books to Farley to let her talk to women who had seen these things happen. I had told her also I had not seen one of these types of cases where Dennis Hof nor Lance Gilman owned the brothels for obvious reasons - no pimp is going to want to tangle with those guys! Not in my experience anyway. While Dennis was alive also, and we didn't advertise this, but Dennis would take in women who were running from pimps I'd call him for help on. So I never said any of this had to do with Dennis or Gilman. The trafficking I'd seen was happening at other ranches, but it WAS happening. What Farley did was she showed me her report, and I signed off on it. I made the mistake of not realizing I needed to include a VERSION of that report in my release. I honestly didn't even think this woman would substitute in another report, more than once actually as she did. Which she did after Operation Dollhouse. They said they "wanted proof" about what I was talking about, so Operation Dollhouse went down. When they had two San Mateo sheriffs they were booking, caught red handed delivering drugs in a limo owned by Charles Horkey, later convicted of sex trafficking himself, all hell broke loose and hit the fan. The San Mateo DA calls up demanding they be released and this case "swept under the rug". Those 24 women who were being trafficked were literally handed back over to their pimps once Metro cut the Salvation Army a check for $375,000 to "restructure" their trafficking programs. So when down that day is what you see now - where it's all under the police's discretion - and you see cases like Celeste Guap's, Ohio, Mally Mall, all those cases connected with law enforcement that's gotten so bad the feds are having to come in and investigate now, even taking over control of Oakland already it was so bad. So Farley also went into "damage control" and had to take all eyes off anything to do with anyone in law enforcement - which is why you saw a lot of editing and fabricating going down - and again why? Money. Lots and lots of grant money now that's on the table is why. But more than that - it's got to be classified as "a human rights violation" in order to justify us entering into other countries who have no weapons of mass destruction - such as is being done in Cambodia now under the label of "fighting sex trafficking". Anyway, if these "anti-trafficking" people heard that I sometimes would take a woman escaping some pimp who had either thrown her out of a car going 95 mph as one did, or another one who shot his victim in the back with a 9mm a few times, and they needed a safe place to recuperate, that Dennis would take them in and let them heal up there until they decided what they wanted to do next - you have an idea why they have disowned me - because I've always only had one thing on my mind - protecting and helping the women who would call our hotline for help. Not the money or some political agenda.

• Holy shit, i figured you gave up all our babbling.. Good to see you're still smoking crack