Mother, daughter sue SLO County Motel 6 for allegedly supporting sex trafficking
A mother and daughter sued multiple Motel 6 locations in California for allegedly knowingly facilitating sex trafficking, including one in San Luis Obispo.
The lawsuit, first filed in the U.S. Eastern District Court of California on Oct. 28 and then amended Jan. 12, alleges that sex trafficking and abuse the mother endured while pregnant caused her daughter to be prematurely born by emergency C-section with quadriplegic cerebral palsy, according to court records.
The mother and daughter remained anonymous in the complaint, referred to only as Jane Doe 1 and 2, respectively.
It also alleges G6 Hospitality LLC, the hotel franchiser that owns Motel 6, failed to take action against trafficking occurring at multiple Motel 6 locations and ignored obvious red flags that could have prevented the abuse, which was allegedly apparent to hotel staff.
“For years, sex trafficking ventures have brazenly operated in and out of hotels throughout the United States and especially at Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations,” the complaint said.
The Motel 6 at 1433 Calle Joaquin — now closed — was one of five locations named in the lawsuit for allegedly having “knowingly participated in atrocities so insurmountable, so indescribable, it defies comprehension — an anguish no woman, no parent and no human should ever be condemned to face,” the complaint said.
The building will be converted into affordable housing units by People’s Self-Help Housing.
The other four locations named in the lawsuit were at 1920 Orangeburg Ave., Modesto; 1250 Twin View Blvd., Redding; 250 S. Walnut Road, Turlock; and 150 Northwoods Ave., Manteca.
The mother and daughter are seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory, statutory and punitive damages including medical costs for negligence and for allegedly violating the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The law was expanded in 2008 to encompass anyone financially benefitting from a venture they knew or could have known was engaging in sex trafficking.
Only one plaintiff — Pravin G. Patel, the franchise owner of the Manteca location — filed an answer to the complaint on Jan. 12 denying the accusations.
G6 Hospitality LLC did not respond to The Tribune’s request for comment as of Wednesday evening.
Motel 6 accused of knowingly facilitating sex trafficking
The mother was lured into being trafficked when falsely promised love and financial stability by her captor, the lawsuit said.
“She had no idea he was a trafficker,” the lawsuit said. “After her trafficker gained her trust and confidence, things quickly changed.“
He began to “control her every move, control her identification, not let her have access to things to get help or away from him, beat her all the time, deprived her of basic needs, threatened her and her family constantly and forced her to engage in commercial sex and follow any and all rules he set for her,” the lawsuit said. He also allegedly drugged her and used weapons to control her.
According to the lawsuit, the mother was forced to perform commercial sex acts — which were often violent in nature — from July 2018 to August 2020, including during her entire pregnancy. She was forced to have sex with as many as eight or more buyers daily, the lawsuit said.
During that time, her trafficker used several Motel 6 locations on rotation.
“Motel 6 was her trafficker’s motel of choice because they were known for trafficking, and he knew they would let him get away with it,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges Motel 6 profits from regularly and knowingly renting rooms to sex traffickers where they could operate without detection or interruption.
Online reviews for the Motel 6 locations named in the lawsuit reference potential alleged sex trafficking in the hotel chain, including at the SLO location.
The mother’s lawsuit alleges that at some Motel 6 locations, managers estimated that up to 90% of their business and profits were directly tied to trafficking, and that when trafficking was reported up the chain, they were encouraged to look the other way.
The complaint further said that Motel 6 locations “thrive” as a result of sex trafficking.
“To them, it’s a well-thought-out business decision,” the lawsuit said.
For the mother and daughter, however, it’s “a nightmare they will never wake up from,” the lawsuit said, noting Motel 6 “destroyed their lives.”
G6 Hospitality LLC has faced a slew of sex trafficking lawsuits in recent years, with complaints arguing the chain should be held liable more than its franchisees.
It was not the first time a SLO County Motel 6 location has been involved in a sex trafficking case, either, with a Pismo Beach location named in a 2016 trial in which four people were accused of trafficking a 15-year-old Manteca girl.
Lawsuit alleges Motel 6 staff knew about trafficking
The mother’s lawsuit alleges that her abuse was known by hotel staff, as well as the fact that she was visibly pregnant during the last few months she was trafficked.
Though the San Luis Obispo hotel was named among the Motel 6 locations, further details on the mother’s experiences at that specific location were not shared in the lawsuit.
At a Motel 6 in Manteca, the woman would allegedly often run from her trafficker through the hallways screaming, to which motel staff on several occasions asked if she was okay and told her to quiet down, but did not offer to help or stop her continued abuse, according to the lawsuit. The owners of the hotel allegedly lived on the property and knew of the mother’s trafficker, according to the lawsuit.
The owner of another location in Turlock was also allegedly aware the mother was being trafficked and “approached her several times in suggestive ways like he wanted to participate,” the lawsuit said.
“Jane Doe 1 felt helpless and knew she could not tell the employees or ask them for help because they made it clear they knew her trafficker and would not help her,” the lawsuit said.
The hotel staff at a Modesto Motel 6 location, and the front desk woman, in particular, held a “very friendly relationship” with the mother’s trafficker, and often let them sleep in the parking lot where the mother would give money to her trafficker, the lawsuit said.
“She would be constantly watched and abused at this location,” the lawsuit said.
The mother’s trafficker was aggressive with her in front of staff at this location, and she was not allowed to talk to anyone or make eye contact, the lawsuit said. Other victims were also allegedly being trafficked there.
It was at the Modesto location where the mother had to be taken to the hospital to have an emergency C-section due to forced sexual acts. She was previously denied medical care despite desperate pleas, according to the lawsuit.
She was “so abused, so often while pregnant that she nearly lost her child, Jane Doe 2, and her life,” the lawsuit said.
The C-section ultimately led to her escape from her captor.
“Our clients have suffered unimaginable trauma that has left them physically and emotionally scarred for life,” Meagan Verschueren, the mother and daughter’s attorney, said in a news release Tuesday. “It is concerning that their suffering went on for so long with multiple hotel locations turning a blind eye, not only to a woman being openly trafficked for sex, but also to the foreseeable harm to her unborn baby.”
A future hearing or court date in the case has yet to be scheduled.
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 9:00 AM.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included photos of the wrong Motel 6. The property in this story is at 1433 Calle Joaquin in San Luis Obispo.
