Witness speaks on sex trafficking ring in Skokie apartments: 'All day long'

New details have surfaced about an international sex trafficking ring operating out of a luxury apartment building.

FOX 32 is hearing from a woman who says she lived right across the hall.

“Within five minutes, three different people would come in, because there were multiple girls in there. It wasn't just one person at a time,” the former Optima resident said.

On Thursday, a former resident of the Optima North Shore Woods Apartments in Skokie described the two apartments near hers which she says they were clearly used for prostitution.

“There were probably three to four women in each apartment. And there were men. All day long. and probably all night long,” she said.

The men, she says, were often dressed in golf clothing. She eventually moved out, fearing for the safety of her son, who played in the hallway. She asked us to protect her identity because she still fears retaliation from her former neighbors.

As we reported earlier this week, guilty pleas by several sex traffickers in Minneapolis have now revealed that women from Thailand were brought to the Optima building and forced into prostitution to pay for their travel.

“Attractive Young women. All of them,” she said.

The former resident says she complained to the building's management and Skokie police, but no arrests were made. The ring was finally busted last May after a tip to the Cook County sheriff's office led to charges in Minneapolis.

“It wasn't even just as if it was six towns in the Chicagoland area. It was in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, it was everywhere,” said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.

One defendant admits being a "house boss" at Optima, with seven women under her control. She collected 40 percent of their earnings. The former resident believes the ring had two apartments on her floor, but she heard about others too.

FOX 32: So you think there were at least four apartments?

“Four for sure. Probably more, but four for sure,” she said.

The Optima building is managed by Trilogy Residential Management. They did not return FOX 32’s calls and neither did the Skokie police.