On September 4, Tamaqua Police arrested Joshua Mickey Martel, 31, in connection with a child rape, human trafficking, and sexual assault investigation. He now faces charges in two separate incidents involving preteen girls.
In the first incident, on April 23, Martel allegedly gave cash and crystal methamphetamine to the mother of a 12-year-old girl in what appeared to be an exchange for time alone with the girl. The mother allegedly took her daughter to a hotel on the 1000 block of Airport Road in Allentown, PA before leaving her alone in the room with Martel. Martel then allegedly physically and sexually assaulted the 12-year-old girl.
As a result of this incident, Martel faces felony charges of child rape, rape by forcible compulsion, statutory sexual assault, trafficking in individuals, patronizing a victim of sexual servitude, sexual assault, and corruption of minors, and misdemeanor charges of indecent assault and simple assault.
According to officials, the victim’s mother also faces felony charges of child rape, trafficking in individuals, and sexual exploitation of a child, along with a misdemeanor charge of simple assault. She is currently being held in Lehigh County Jail with bail set at $350,000. Authorities have chosen not to disclose additional personal information.
In the second incident, on May 21, police allege that Martel was found in a hotel room with a 13-year-old girl who had previously been reported missing from school. Police say she was picked up from school by an Uber the previous day and did not return the next morning. A school resource officer reportedly contacted the police with information that she may be at the hotel on Airport Road, the same hotel as the one in the first incident. According to authorities, the 13-year-old girl said that Martel sexually assaulted her there.
In connection with this separate incident, Martel faces additional felony charges, including statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, and possession of child pornography.
Martel is being held at Lehigh County Prison in lieu of $500,000 bail on both cases. His preliminary hearing, originally scheduled for September 10, was continued to October 1.
Under Pennsylvania law, an individual is guilty of trafficking if they recruit, entice, solicit, patronize, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, advertise, or maintain another person for a commercial sex act. To be guilty of sex trafficking of a child, the prosecution must only prove that the defendants engaged in soliciting, enticing, harboring, obtaining, patronizing, or transporting a minor who is or will be subject to sexual servitude. Because the victim is a minor, the Government does not need to prove the defendant knew or recklessly disregarded the victim’s age, nor does the Government have to prove that anything of value was exchanged for the sex act. Under both federal and state law, any commercial sexual exploitation of minors constitutes sex trafficking because children cannot consent to be bought or sold for sex.
If the reported facts are proven to be true, then the charges of trafficking in individuals are appropriate for both Martel and the 12-year-old victim’s mother. By harboring both of the girls in the hotel rooms, Martel committed one of the acts required to satisfy the elements of the human trafficking charge. As for the mother, if the facts alleged are true, by providing and transporting her daughter to the hotel, she too satisfied the elements of the human trafficking charge.
The CSE Institute highlights that hotels are one of the most frequent venues used to facilitate and profit from sex trafficking, and as such we call on the hospitality industry to take responsibility for this issue and address it with concrete solutions. These solutions could include mandatory training for all employees to help them recognize the signs of sex trafficking in hotels and what to do if they suspect human trafficking.
Because of the key role the hotel industry holds in fostering the commercial sex industry, a hotel and its owner can be criminally prosecuted under the federal sex trafficking statute if they knowingly benefitted from a venture perpetuating human trafficking. Under federal law, it is a crime to harbor an adult by force, threats of force, fraud, or coercion to cause him or her to engage in a commercial sex act. For purposes of prosecution, it is sufficient that a hotel employee “harbored” the victim by renting a room to the trafficker knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that force, threat of force, fraud, or coercion were being used to cause an adult victim to engage in commercial sex. For minor victims, such as in this case, it is sufficient for prosecutors to show that a hotel employee rented a room to the trafficker knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that a minor was engaging in commercial sex in that hotel. Additionally, as of recent years, we have seen the hotel industry face civil liability for its role in facilitating sex trafficking. For more information on this, see our 2023 Annual Report.
The CSE Institute praises the collaborative efforts of the Tamaqua Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service for their diligence in investigating and apprehending an alleged repeat sexual offender who appears to have consistently targeted and exploited young, vulnerable individuals. We urge law enforcement to continue taking steps to protect their communities by conducting thorough investigations into suspected sex trafficking and encourage prosecutors statewide to utilize the human trafficking statutes when appropriate.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates on this case as they become available.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.