Tampa strip club accused of trafficking, exploiting minor with disabilities

By: Jackie Callaway , WFTS Digital Staff; Posted at 10:33 AM, Jan 29, 2020

TAMPA, Fla. — A lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses a Tampa strip club of hiring and exploiting an underage girl with disabilities and allowing her to be groped and propositioned with sex acts by customers.

The victim, who is only named as Jane Doe, “was a particularly vulnerable minor when she was sex trafficked at Scores Tampa,” the lawsuit states. Doe is described in the suit as a “developmentally disabled and severely emotionally disabled teenager,” who functions at the mental capacity of a 13-year-old and required extensive medical and mental health care throughout her youth.

The lawsuit, filed in Hillsborough County, states the “reckless urgency” Scores used to hire the girl so quickly fit within the business model developed by the Scores chain.

Scores is a national chain with more than 10 locations in cities like New York, Chicago and Las Vegas.

The 50-page lawsuit accuses the club of hiring the teen and immediately having her on stage 30 minutes after she walked in the door and presented a fake ID. The suit states she was brought in on September 30, 2017 by 31-year-old Roberto Torres.

In the lawsuit, Torres is accused of getting the minor to run away from home, manipulating her to take part in commercial sexual performances that he could view and seeking to have a sexual relationship with her.

Read more at: https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local-news/i-team-investigates/tampa-strip-club-accused-of-trafficking-exploiting-minor-with-disabilities