That was the day the gates of hell opened and Isabelle, then just 16, walked out into the liberating arms of police and the new glory that would be her future life.
Before that, for seven months of horror, she had been sexually trafficked to a continuous series of men by a shocking pimp: her own mother.
A methamphetamine, alcohol and cocaine addict, her mother advertised Isabelle’s sexual services on the notorious Village Voice Media’s Backpage website, described by the National Association of Attorneys General as “a hub of human trafficking, especially the trafficking of minors,” according to a massive new, 167-page federal lawsuit, filed in March by Isabelle’s attorney, Travis Walker.
“Isabelle’s story is remarkable, but unfortunately, it is a common pattern. It’s family members trafficking family members for drugs and money.”
From November 2016 to May 2017, Kristina Hughes pulled Isabelle out of the 11th grade and forced her daughter to have nonconsensual sex with a stream of men—aged 19 to 75—who responded to the lurid ads and underwear photos she had posted on Backpage, placing their orders.
Through those disgusting ads, Hughes sold her own daughter, re-branded “Belle,” like an old unwanted bicycle or a pair of used shoes on eBay. She rented her out as a sexual plaything, knowing exactly what sort of abhorrent devastation those who bought her child intended to force upon her innocent body.
As the lawsuit describes, one terrible night, Isabelle was to have sex with a “client,” but he showed up with three friends. She was forced to have sex with all four of them.
The lawsuit states that Isabelle “was subjected to coercion, threats and intimidation to perform sexual acts, including oral sex and vaginal intercourse, in exchange for money which was turned over to her mother.”
Isabelle’s mother would charge $80 for a QV (quick visit), $120 for a half hour, $180 for an hour, $400 for an overnight with a regular customer and $800 for overnight with a one-time “john”—thus awarding “regulars” a discount. Isabelle told police she was making around $4,000 a month, all turned over to her mother, the lawsuit states.
Florida’s Hernando County Sheriff Al Neinhuis said with disgust: “This victim was at the age she should’ve been learning how to drive, or going to school dances.”
Instead, her mother would drive her to hotels where men were waiting to give cash in exchange for violating her daughter. She also plied Isabelle with meth, cocaine and alcohol.
“As a direct and proximate result of being trafficked and forced into repeated nonconsensual sexual encounters, plaintiff [Isabelle] suffered severe and catastrophic physical, emotional and psychological injuries. These injuries include but are not limited to contracting sexually transmitted diseases that will affect her for the rest of her life,” the lawsuit charges.
“Isabelle’s story is remarkable, but unfortunately, it is a common pattern,” Walker said. “It’s family members trafficking family members for drugs and money.”
Against all odds, Isabelle has emerged with exceptional strength and bravery, tearing away the veil of anonymity that once shielded her and speaking out to confront those who shattered her childhood and her innocence.
On Isabelle’s Independence Day, her mother and nine men—slavering, brutal and despoiling “johns” one and all—felt the cold bite of steel handcuffs on their wrists, and Isabelle, finally rescued, helped authorities build iron-clad cases against those who had sexually tortured her.
“The allegations in this case represent a severe breach of human rights.”
“I spent so long, so much of my time and so many years, wanting to kill myself because of it—because of having to remember what these men and what my mom did to me,” Isabelle said. “Something like this, it ruins you. It destroys your life. To come back up from it is so incredibly hard.”
But, amazingly, she has—creating a new life with a new partner, Cody, and their baby, River.
When you see Isabelle’s pictures today, she is smiling.
Now she wants to strike back against those who tormented and abused her.
“Without accountability, there really is no means for change,” she said. “Nobody is going to change. Hotels won’t change. The people won’t change.”
The lawsuit includes as defendants GOSAI 9, LLC, and MGM Hotels, LLC, the companies that own the named Quality Inn, Days Inn by Wyndham and Holiday Inn & Suites—sites where Isabelle was defiled—as well as Salesforce, the company responsible for providing marketing and business services to Backpage.com.
The hotels are a target because, the lawsuit states, they did nothing to stop the victimization of Isabelle, though there were plenty of warning signs—a young girl with no baggage, restricted in her movements, indicators like condoms and bodily fluids left behind, a steady stream of men in and out of her room.
The hotels “permitted [their] facilities to be used as a hub for this criminal enterprise,” the lawsuit states.
“The allegations in this case represent a severe breach of human rights,” said Walker. “This lawsuit highlights our dedication to securing justice for the victims and holding these corporations responsible for their actions.”
On April 6, 2018, Backpage was shut down by federal law enforcement for good. Its one surviving co-founder, Michael Lacey, along with executives John Brunst and Scott Spear, were sent off to prison. Carl Ferrer, a fellow Backpage executive, was found guilty of conspiracy and given a probationary sentence. All four men are named as defendants in Isabelle’s lawsuit.
During the heyday of Backpage’s profiteering, anti-Scientologist Tony Ortega served as editor-in-chief of the child trafficking site’s sister company, The Village Voice, both owned by Village Voice Media. He is, today, notorious for his role in strenuously defending Backpage against charges that it was an online advertising service for pimps and a portal for those seeking illicit sex with children—which is exactly what it was.
In 2024, the Department of Justice forfeited $215 million in Backpage profits, making them available to victims seeking compensation.
“This lawsuit seeks justice for the victims and sends a strong message to all corporations that complicity in such egregious crimes will not be tolerated,” said Noel Thomas, CEO of Dark Watch, a data company combating human trafficking with digital intelligence.
Justice.
In the end, that’s what it’s all about: justice. Justice for victims—victims like Isabelle.
And she intends to get it.
