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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRon DeSantis issues zero fines after 6,600 hotels rack up sex trafficking violations
https://www.rawstory.com/florida-trafficking-fines/Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration has declined to issue fines after over 14,000 violations of a sex trafficking law by Florida hotels and lodging establishments.
An investigation published on Sunday by the Sun Sentinel found that 6,669 hotels and other lodging establishments had received 14,279 citations since a 2019 sex trafficking law required them to make modest changes to protect victims.
In one case, The Plaza Hotel was cited five times after a 17-year-old girl was choked because she would not turn over all her earnings to her sex trafficker.
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation told the paper that no fines had been issued because the establishment had corrected the problems within a 90-day grace period provided by the law.
State Sen. Lauren Book passed the law and was shocked to find out that state enforcers had required no fines.
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It's not clear why DeSantis has not ordered his government to use the law to crack down on sex trafficking.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)Bluethroughu
(5,176 posts)onecaliberal
(32,887 posts)dchill
(38,517 posts)Initech
(100,099 posts)Fuck 'em.
Solly Mack
(90,779 posts)donations.
The tourist trade pays the bills in Florida.
And with nearly 7K hotels getting over 14K citations, selling sex (rape, because sex trafficking is rape) is definitely part of the tourist trade.
sheshe2
(83,853 posts)He was trafficking and solid buddies with DeSantis. I have to wonder about the connection.
Hm.
ancianita
(36,130 posts)So there's that. Luckey also donated this past election to DeSantis.
Here are DeSantis's other donors. The National Republican Governors Assoc. donated a full 25% of their wealth to him.
It's obscene how many donors DeSantis has.
https://floridapolitics.com/archives/563961-ron-desantis-hits-seven-day-spending-record-holds-21-times-more-cash-than-charlie-crist/
niyad
(113,524 posts)ancianita
(36,130 posts)Money laundering flows through Florida like the water through the Everglades. It's all around everyone in the state and no one can even see it. But somehow this no-income tax state can afford what it wants to afford. Just not teachers or working class folk.
niyad
(113,524 posts)ancianita
(36,130 posts)you say 'of course' as if this is common knowledge, and I realize that for you it is. But we have to keep in mind, too, that most Americans don't know this about Florida; rightly so, because they, of course, should assume no state does massive laundering under the watchful eye of state leaders.
David Jolly said a week ago that the rest of the country won't accept anyone from Florida because no one wants the Florida plantation model for their state. He nailed it about DeSantis that day, and he convinced me that despite the obscene amount of billionaire money flowing toward him, he just won't win the popular vote. Doesn't mean he couldn't win battleground state electors, though. That right there is the scary prospect about 2024.
niyad
(113,524 posts)having lived there and spending time just shaking my head at how things operated. When I wasn't glued to the pbone, that is.
dewsgirl
(14,961 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)That is, if DeSantis had not botched the comparison with his Ivy League background: worked his way through Yale, got law degree with honors at Harvard Law.
sakabatou
(42,170 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,755 posts)tanyev
(42,598 posts)I guess their obsession is not about ending it.
SoBlueInFL
(191 posts)ways to hide their dirty deeds.
They've shown over and over that the Republican party doesn't give a damn about women, children, the elderly, or *anyone* for that matter.
republianmushroom
(13,660 posts)I mean they are republicans
Wounded Bear
(58,693 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Has his coyotes pick up the refugees in Texas, flies them to Florida, then he flies them to New York or Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. On the taxpayer dime, of cuss. So why should he break his head that a handful of hotels are making a buck sex trafficking minors? It's just spend a buck to make a buck, they don't really give a flying fuck about the people in misery.