Grand Junction is a city of about 67, residents located in western Colorado near the Utah border, and situated along Interstate It is the largest city and county seat of Mesa County, CO. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well-documented local problems. This activity and its ancillary crimes have generated residential complaints to local law enforcement agencies.
For example, in , a well-known brothel , Fuji Oriental Massage, was seized and later auctioned by the IRS after investigators discovered that 43 people from 14 states had used their Discover credit cards to pay thousands of dollars for alleged prostitution services at the business. Local sex trafficking cases include a case in which 14 people were arrested for involvement in a human-trafficking ring that brought teenage girls to Grand Junction and other Colorado cities for sexual exploitation.
The leaders were charged with trafficking of children, pimping of a child, and inducement of child prostitution. The four key traffickers allegedly recruited five girls, all under the age of 18, for sex trafficking purposes for a six-month period in According to the indictment, the victims were transported to hotel rooms in Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs , Denver , Boulder and Lakewood , given drugs and alcohol, and were sexually exploited in exchange for money.
In addition to such evidence of prostitution, child sex trafficking, and rape of exploited minors, there has been at least one documented case of targeted homicide. In , a Grand Junction woman was reported missing and three days later officials found her car in flames.
Upon further investigation, police found that the woman had been operating four businesses, three of which were legitimate and the fourth which was an escort service in which she advertised through online ads.
