Ian Hassell quit his job at the Central Intelligence Agency in the fall of 2013 with an audacious goal: dismantling an underground economy of illicit massage parlors engaged in sex trafficking.
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Federal, state and local law enforcement agents raid a home a Northwest Indiana home in November 2023. The owners of the house face charges accusing them of sex trafficking through illicit massage parlors in the region.
Marc Chase, Lee Enterprises
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Signs hang in the window of an Northwest Indiana massage parlor raided and closed down by police in November 2023. Owners of the former business are accused of running an illicit sex trafficking business there.
Marc Chase, Lee Enterprises
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