Rita Law, Sex Trafficking and Involuntary Servitude, Indiana 2013

Rita Law, a 58-year-old Chicago resident, was found guilty of sex trafficking and involuntary servitude charges in a Northern Indiana court.

Law, along with her accomplice Crystal Wireman, 32, of Lake Station, Indiana, was charged with transporting a woman in interstate commerce with intent that the woman engage in prostitution. The charges were brought against Law by a grand jury in Hammond, Indiana, after she was extradited from Hong Kong, where she had fled in 2013.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Law provided and obtained the labor and services of two victims, referred to at trial as HV and XC, by means of a scheme, plan and pattern intended to cause them to believe that if they did not perform the labor and service, they would suffer serious harm and physical restraint.

Law caused both women to work at her “spas” in Northwest Indiana, where they were expected to and did engage in sexual acts in exchange for money with Law’s predominantly male clientele. Law’s businesses were called “Duneland Spa” in Lake Station and Gary, Indiana and “Fun Fun Feet” in Hobart, Indiana.

The jury also convicted Defendant Crystal Wireman of using a telephone to promote, manage, establish, carry on and facilitate prostitution in violation of Indiana Code. Wireman worked as a masseuse at Law’s spas in Hobart and Gary, Indiana and assisted Law in managing her prostitution business.

This case was prosecuted as a result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Gary Police Department, the Hammond Police Department, the Hobart Police Department, the Lake Station Police Department, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and the Oak Forest (Illinois) Police Department.

Assistant United States Attorneys Jill Koster and Abizer Zanzi prosecuted the case. The guilty verdicts are a significant blow to sex traffickers and their accomplices, and serve as a reminder of the determination of law enforcement to bring these perpetrators to justice.

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