Disabled Teen Accuses Scores Strip Club Chain Of Human Trafficking, Sex Abuse; Files Lawsuit

A 17-year-old girl filed a lawsuit against Scores on Wednesday for charges of human trafficking and sexual abuse.

The victim, identified as Jane Doe, described herself as a developmentally disabled and emotionally disturbed back in September 2017 when a male acquaintance brought her to a Scores strip club branch in Tampa, Florida and was put on stage for 30 minutes where she endured exploitation and abuse, ABC News reported.

The New York Post reported that according to Doe’s lawyer, Michael Dolce of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll law firm and a criminal affidavit filled in at the Circuit Court of the 13th Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County, Florida, the victim met the trafficker while she was at a drug rehab clinic, as she was qualified for special education and spent time in and out of mental health facilities.

In the affidavit, it was written that Roberto “Bobbie” Torres and his father, who was in charge of the therapeutic treatment in the facility befriended Doe, invited her to live in their home and “groomed” her by giving her money and complimenting her looks.

Torres provided Doe with a fake ID and was hired on the spot.
The suit stated that the staff at Scores, which was part of the Club Operators Against Sex Trafficking group, did not interact with Doe because they could have “readily determined that she was mentally compromised”.

According to the suit, Doe was forced to perform sexually explicit acts and have her naked body groped and touched while she was encouraged to take drugs “as a way to manage the mental stress and disgust.”

Doe was also allegedly raped when one of the dancers “induced” her to go to a nearby hotel with customers from the club to “engage in prostitution”.

Doe was rescued within three days from a hotel down the street from scores and Torres was arrested for trafficking her, Dolce said.

“The Scores business model is directly to blame for the exploitation of my teenage daughter and has caused an already struggling girl an infinitely greater amount of suffering,” Doe’s mother, who remained anonymous to protect her daughter’s identity, told The Post. “Scores puts its bottom line ahead of the well-being of young women, enabling and then callously profiting from human trafficking and sexual abuse. Our hope is that holding Scores accountable for the pain its negligence has caused my daughter will protect others from such horrific trauma.”

According to the court records, Torres pleaded guilty to child neglect, interference with custody and unlawful use of a two-way communications device.

The lawsuit is seeking for an undisclosed amount of damages from the strip club chain, saying that Scores should have done more to protect Doe and realize that she is a trafficking victim.
Scores Tampa lawyer, Luke Lirot is confident that the any allegations against his client will be proven false.

“My clients, doing business as ‘Scores,’ fully cooperated with the Tampa Police Department and assisted in the prosecution of [Torres] the Tampa Police Department can vouch for my clients’ conduct and the levels of cooperation extended during the investigation into this matter,” Lirot wrote.

The spokesman for Scores Holding Company refused to comment, and Torres did not return a request for comment.