Kraft was able to obtain Tara's personal cell number."

Later that summer, Kraft made an appointment with Kim—who was also working as a sex worker herself—where he "learned that she was currently working as an independent but admitted to having ties to Yoko and Tera."

In January 2016, Shearer submitted a Certificate for Determination of Probable Cause against Kim. It recommended charging her with prostitution, promoting prostitution, permitting prostitution, money laundering, and human trafficking.

Soon thereafter, police raided Kim's apartment and arrested her. The Seattle Times subsequently described her as the owner of a brothel "where prostituted women from South Korea were forced to work often for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, to pay off debts." The Enumclaw Courier-Herald reported that "brothel owners" such as Kim, Donald Mueller,and Michael Durnal "established a pipeline of foreign women to the Pacific Northwest to meet the burgeoning demand for prostitution fostered by TRB and The League."

But Mueller and Durnal, like Kim, were mostly guilty of providing K-Girls with rooms where they could see clients. TRB was simply an advertising and review forum for escorts—one of dozens like it online, and one valued in the sex-work commnity. And "The League" was just a loosely affiliated group of men who were enthusiastic about visiting sex workers. None of these entities smuggled anyone from overseas.

Permitting Prostitution

The sensational arrest of Kim, Mueller, Durnal, and around a dozen men who patronized their apartments made local, national, and international headlines and TV news segments.

But there was nary a press release or tweet from local