Bellevue Apartment Buildings Identified in Sex Trafficking Sting

Five downtown Bellevue apartment units served as brothels, where women in the United States illegally from Thailand offered sex services for money in an alleged international sex trafficking ring, according to the charging papers by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Three Bellevue residents are among six who face charges in connection with the ring, according to federal prosecutors. Proseuctors accuse Bellevue resident Unruean Aboulafia, 34, of Bellevue, of being the ringleader of the operation.

The charging documents say that between April 2009 and February 2013, the undercover officers answered the ads and met with the women at the Amli Apartments, Avalon Bellevue, the Courtyard Off Main, the Avalon Bellevue Park and the Belcarra Apartments, all in downtown Bellevue. According to the apartment complexes' website, units rent between $1,300 to under $1,800 for a one bedroom apartment, which is slightly above average in Bellevue.

The women who were offering their services owed $60,000 to the leader of the prostitution ring, for providing them with the employment opportunities, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office press release. Most of the women were recruited in Thailand and came to the U.S. knowing they would be sex workers to pay off their debt, the press release said.

The ring was busted in an undercover sting operation, according to a press release by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The women at the apartments offered the undercover officers sex services for a fee, which the officers declined, according to the charging papers.

The women that the undercover officers met at the apartments idenfieid themselves as from Thailand. According to the prosecutors, many of the women who provided sexual services were in the U.S. illegally after overstaying their visas.

According to the charging documents, undercover police officers from Bellevue and Kirkland answered ads in the website backpage.com, a classifieds website controversial for allowing postings that, according to USA Today and former Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna, are thinly veiled ads for prostitution.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office charging papers in the recent Eastside case, the apartment units were leased under the names of Steven Aboulafia, a Nevada man, Bellevue resident Jeff Chu, Chinese national Xinping Zhang and Edward Flanigan of Federal Way, who all face indictment along with Unruean Aboulafia. Aboulafia is accused of taking out the "massage services" advertisements in backpage.com and being the ringleader of the operation, according to the charging papers. Thanyathorn Mohr, of Bellevue, is believed to be person who booked the meetings at the apartments, according to the charging papers.

“This case is more than prostitution, money laundering, and conspiracy.  It is about human trafficking,” said King County Sheriff John Urquhart.  “The Sheriff’s Office is committed to fighting human trafficking and holding responsible those who engage in this despicable activity.”

“The Bellevue Police Department is committed to proactively targeting all forms of human trafficking with our law enforcement partners on all levels (local, county, state, and federal). Bellevue police condemns the financial and physical exploitation of these victims and the suspects who manage these operations,” said Bellevue Police Investigations Captain Steve Lynch.

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