Hotel can’t be sued for sex-trafficked Broward teenager’s death, judge rules

A Pompano Beach hotel escaped liability for the death of a 16-year-old sex trafficking victim after a judge ruled that the girl’s drug use constituted a felony that shielded the hotel from legal consequences.

Marina Ralph, who had fallen into the hands of a drug dealer and pimp, was found dead at the Extended Stay America on West McNab Road on Oct. 4, 2019, from an overdose of cocaine and fentanyl.

Her mother sued the hotel’s owner, ESA P Portfolio LLC, saying a series of security lapses at the hotel had allowed her daughter to be kept there and sold for sex.

But a federal judge this week threw out the lawsuit, ruling that Florida law protects a business against liability for a death if the victim had been committing a felony at the time. Marina’s possession of the drugs that killed her would be a felony, the hotel’s lawyers successfully argued.

Marina’s story was among those reported in the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s recent investigation into child sex trafficking, Innocence Sold, and its accompanying podcast, Felonious Florida.

“Marina’s untimely death is indeed tragic,” wrote U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom. “However, this motion turns on the narrow legal issue of whether Fla. Stat. 768.075(4) shields a hotel from liability for a drug user’s accidental overdose of a Schedule II controlled substance, when that overdose occurs on the hotel premises. The Court concludes in the affirmative, and therefore must grant summary judgment in favor of Defendants.”

Justin Grosz, the attorney for Marina’s mother, said she was “devastated” that the question of the hotel’s accountability won’t be brought to a jury.

“I never perceived her to be a criminal or someone who that statute was intended to protect against,” Grosz said. “She was caught up in a predatory criminal operation. ... There needs to be change in the law, and maybe it’s as simple as a carveout that recognizes that vulnerable children deserve certain protections.”

Grosz, a partner in the Kelley Kronenberg law firm and co-founder of Justice for Kids, a division of the firm, said it is “no secret [that] part of the grooming process involves the use of drugs as manipulation and exploitation and coercion.”

The statute cited by the judge reads: “A person or organization owning or controlling an interest in real property, or an agent of such person or organization, shall not be held liable for negligence that results in the death of, injury to, or damage to a person who is attempting to commit a felony or who is engaged in the commission of a felony on the property.”

There is no exclusion for sex trafficking victims, or any other person who might be a crime victim and plied with drugs.

No decision has been made on whether the ruling will be appealed.

In late 2022, the Sun Sentinel published a series of reports and an accompanying investigative podcast exposing state failures that contribute to child sex trafficking.

The Sun Sentinel’s Innocence Sold series reported that hotels in Florida get away with thousands of violations of an anti-trafficking law, the state’s foster care system funnels children into the sex trade and victims are treated like criminals.

Like many young girls who are targeted by traffickers, Marina was struggling with her mental health. At 14, she got pregnant and had an abortion, court filings say. Then, she was raped. She never rebounded.

Marina’s death spiral began when she fell in with Randall Taylor, a man involved with drugs, fraud and pimping, according to the judge’s ruling that was based on court papers and depositions.

“Taylor would target women he found on the street who were “down and out,” the ruling said. “Taylor would then provide them with free hotel rooms and drugs in exchange for money made from prostituting and fraud.”

One day in 2019, Taylor and Samantha Cook, one of the women he forced into prostitution, drove to a gas station that was a known gathering spot for drug users. Upon seeing Marina, Taylor told Cook to “call that girl over.”

Soon after, an ad was placed on a web site offering sex with Marina for money.

On Sept. 30, Cook rented two rooms at the Extended Stay using a stolen driver’s license and two fake credit cards that she got from Taylor. Taylor appeared to provide Cook with heroin and Marina with crack cocaine, according to court papers.

On Oct. 4 at 10:04 a.m., Cook called 911 to report Marina had overdosed. Police and firefighters arrived within 15 minutes and found Marina’s body alone in the room, slumped against the foot of the bed. They found drug paraphernalia and white powder in the room.

Taylor has not been charged in her death. He is currently facing federal fraud charges in Syracuse, N.Y., as one of nine alleged members of the Felony Lane Gang, which broke into more than 700 cars to steal credit cards, checkbooks and identification documents, which they used to commit bank fraud.

In its motion to dismiss the case, the hotel owner said there’s no evidence Marina was ever trafficked from the hotel.

“In an attempt to detract from the uncontroverted fact that Marina died as a result of her own voluntary (and illegal) conduct, Plaintiff contends that Marina died as a result of being sex trafficked and that ESA’s negligence caused Marina’s sex trafficking (and, thus, her death),” the hotel’s lawyers wrote.

“However, after months and months of discovery, Plaintiff has uncovered no evidence that Marina was trafficked at the Hotel — a point she has now repeatedly conceded through her expert witnesses. In actuality, the only crime occurring in ESA Room 334 when Marina died was the crime being committed by Marina herself, and, for the myriad reasons set forth below, ESA cannot be held liable for Marina’s drug use and her resultant death.”

The hotel company released a one-sentence statement Wednesday, saying, “Extended Stay America is committed to offering all our guests a safe environment including operating a zero-tolerance policy in regard to trafficking.”