TRENTON, N.J. — Shalaby Hicks ran the Pennsauken side from the Riviera Motor Inn on Route 73. Nathaniel Clay ran the Maple Shade side from the Bel-Air Motor Lodge several miles away on the same strip. For sixteen months the enterprise operated across Middlesex, Ocean, Camden and Burlington counties and three motels on the Route 73 corridor. Authorities warn that next month's FIFA World Cup in New Jersey could the create conditions traffickers exploit.
State Police and Division of Criminal Justice detectives executed warrants at all three motels simultaneously on May 7, arresting 13 people. Search warrants at three residences and two additional hotels led to the recovery of 15 women. Detectives later recovered approximately 7.79 ounces of suspected crack cocaine, 5 ounces of fentanyl and 3.77 ounces of methamphetamine from a hotel room associated with Hicks, along with drug paraphernalia and approximately $5,000 in cash. All 15 victims were adults.
Route 73 in Camden and Burlington counties is a commercial artery of chain restaurants, big-box stores and budget motels. It intersects Interstate 295 and links to the New Jersey Turnpike via commercial arteries that connect Philadelphia to the I-95 corridor. The Riviera Motor Inn in Pennsauken, where Hicks controlled the portion of the enterprise, sits at 2120 Route 73. The Bel-Air Motor Lodge in Maple Shade (depicted in the headline image above), where Clay controlled the portion of the enterprise, sits at 2800 Route 73 North. State Police raided Hometown Studios at 2868 Route 73 North the same morning.
Manager Venktesh Shah told 6ABC Philadelphia he was unaware of any illegal activity. He said 20 or 30 state police officers were present and that the business cooperated fully with authorities.
Hicks lives in Pennsauken. Clay lives in Mount Laurel. According to the Attorney General's Office they split the enterprise geographically. Hicks controlled the Pennsauken operation with associates Amber Temean, Eleana Kuzel, Shawn Williams and Kelley Plotts. The Attorney General's Office said all four served as managers handling narcotics, money and enforcing rules. Deena Turner allegedly assisted in photographing and posting online commercial sex advertisements.
Clay controlled the Maple Shade operation with associates Richard Wood and Raymond Edness. The Attorney General's Office said Wood and Edness provided transportation, controlled dangerous substances and protection. Hicks allegedly obtained powdered cocaine and cooked it into crack cocaine, which was supplied to all the victims. Detectives found a handgun in Clay's possession at the time of his arrest. Bernard Dandridge of Sicklerville allegedly manufactured cocaine at his Gloucester County residence and, at the time of his arrest, was allegedly in possession of 14 ounces of cocaine, two handguns and an assault "ghost gun" rifle. Anthony Hicks Simms of Camden and Dandridge were allegedly cocaine suppliers for the enterprise. Also charged were Nicholas Bray of Haddon Heights and Michael Amoroso of Riverside.
The enterprise maintained control over the victims through financial dependence, manipulation and the distribution of controlled substances. In exchange, Hicks and Clay allegedly paid for their lodging, food, other necessities, transportation and those substances. The enterprise found clients by posting advertisements of the women for commercial sex acts on websites including skipthegames.com and megapersonals.eu, and forced the victims to post online advertisements of themselves. In addition, victims were expected to provide controlled substances if they had clients who wanted to purchase them.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline documented 601 hotel and motel-based sex trafficking cases nationally in 2024, making commercial lodging the third most common venue for the crime nationwide.
But New Jersey's own enforcement data tells a different story. The state charged only 21 people with trafficking-related offenses in 2025, 14 in 2024 and eight in 2023 according to the New Jersey Monitor. A single operation just produced 13 arrests and 15 victims. That is more than 1.5 times the state's entire annual trafficking prosecution count for 2023 compressed into one corridor on one Thursday morning.
New Jersey failed to report a single human trafficking prison admission to the Bureau of Justice Statistics National Corrections Reporting Program between 2019 and 2022. The state reported zero trafficking prison admissions to federal datasets even as the National Human Trafficking Hotline recorded 2,389 cases and 4,752 victims in New Jersey since 2007. In 2024 alone the Hotline received 884 signals from New Jersey, identified 269 cases and documented 354 victims. Only eight of those 2024 cases were classified as hotel or motel-based sex trafficking.
The Bel-Air Motor Lodge carries its own history. On May 11, 2022, Alexander Rivera, 27, of Philadelphia, killed Michelle L. Johnston, 36, in a room there. Rivera, a registered sex offender, pleaded guilty in 2023 to aggravated manslaughter for strangling and stabbing Johnston and received a 25-year sentence. Johnston had previously lived in Burlington and Camden counties. The motel continued operating as commercial lodging. The site later became the Burlington County base of a trafficking ring that exploited women for 16 months. There is no evidence in public records that the 2022 homicide triggered enhanced municipal inspection or code enforcement by Maple Shade officials.
New Jersey law requires hotels and motels to register annually and subjects them to inspection on a 5-year cycle under the Hotel and Multiple Dwelling Law. The Department of Community Affairs maintains inspection reports behind a login portal that requires owner credentials. Municipal code enforcement records in Maple Shade and Pennsauken are not published online. Whether an inspector walked through the Bel-Air, the Riviera or Hometown Studios during the operation remains unknown to the general public.
In January 2024, the Attorney General's Office charged nine members of a Sicklerville and Lindenwold ring with trafficking untraceable ghost gun assault rifles and cocaine, in an operation called "Stone Wall." Twenty-eight months later, Dandridge allegedly possessed an assault ghost gun rifle at his Gloucester County residence. The weapon type connects two separate operations targeting the same South Jersey county cluster, though no evidence currently links Dandridge or anyone involved in this case to that ring.
The legislative response does not cover the actual digital marketplace where victims were sold. Senators Douglas Steinhardt (R-23rd) and Michael Testa (R-1st) introduced S372 on January 13, 2026. Assembly members Victoria Flynn (R-13th), Gerard Scharfenberger (R-13th), and Jay Webber (R-26th) introduced the parallel Assembly bill, A366. The legislation would require the Commission on Human Trafficking to identify methods to prevent human trafficking through online gaming platforms. However, the Route 73 enterprise did not use gaming platforms. It used skipthegames.com and megapersonals.eu.
With the FIFA World Cup approaching, authorities have warned that major sporting events create conditions traffickers exploit. The state will deploy 1,200 New Jersey State Police troopers for World Cup events, with six hundred officers per match at MetLife Stadium. FIFA is contributing $0 toward New Jersey's security costs.
Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said, "When there's visitors and spectators, people coming together for sporting events or other activities, you will also see that people try to profit off of that activity with any type of criminal activity. Here, with human trafficking, you have many people coming from around the globe, which adds to that."
"The physical and emotional abuse of human trafficking leaves scars that stay with victims for the rest of their lives. It is our mission to relentlessly pursue those who exploit others. Anyone who engages in this kind of criminal activity should know one thing: you will be held accountable," Davenport added.
Theresa Hilton, director of the Division of Criminal Justice, said, "This takedown reflects the power of coordinated law enforcement efforts, working together to dismantle trafficking networks. These cases can be complicated, requiring cooperation across agencies and disciplines to protect survivors and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice."
Acting State Police Superintendent Jeanne Hengemuhle said, "Human trafficking is a cruel and predatory crime that targets the most vulnerable members of our society, leaving victims with lasting physical, emotional, and psychological trauma. These traffickers prey on human lives for personal profit and have no regard for the devastation they cause to victims, families, and communities. The New Jersey State Police remain unwavering in our commitment to combating human trafficking, protecting those at risk, and ensuring those responsible are brought to justice. These arrests send a clear message: this exploitation will not be tolerated in our communities."
Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Hunterdon County prosecutors assisted in the investigation. They were aided by the Montgomery County Pennsylvania District Attorney's Office; police departments in Maple Shade, Mount Laurel, Pennsauken and Totowa; and the DEA and ATF. Volunteers of America, Operation Rise, Hoving Home, Inspira Health and Jefferson Health rendered assistance to the 15 victims State Police recovered.
The defendants face charges including first-degree racketeering, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:41-2c and N.J.S.A. 2C:41-2d, first-degree human trafficking, and multiple narcotics and weapons counts. The charge of first-degree human trafficking as an organizer, supervisor, financier or manager carries a sentence of 20 years to life with a mandatory period of parole ineligibility of 20 years, and up to a $200,000 fine. The charges and allegations contained in the complaints are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
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Sources
• Jennifer Davenport, New Jersey Attorney General, "Attorney General Davenport, State Police Superintendent Callahan Announce Human Trafficking and Narcotics Enterprise Dismantled" (May 15, 2026)
• New Jersey Attorney General's Office, Chart of Charges PDF (May 15, 2026)
• New Jersey Attorney General's Office, "Nine Charged in Operation Stone Wall with Trafficking Untraceable Ghost Gun Assault Rifles and Cocaine" (January 26, 2024)
• Matt Arco, NJ.com, "13 N.J. residents charged in human trafficking ring that forced women into prostitution, supplied drugs" (May 15, 2026)
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• Katherine Scott, 6ABC Philadelphia, "Maple Shade motel manager reacts to human trafficking raid" (May 15, 2026)
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• Dana DiFilippo, New Jersey Monitor, "World Cup could be a boon for human traffickers, experts warn" (April 24, 2026)
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• New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Bureau of Housing Inspection, "Hotel and Multiple Dwelling Law Registration and Inspection Requirements" (P.L.2019, c.202)
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