Sabrina Jales St Pierre claims she received the bites while staying at the Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel in 2016
A VICTORIA’S Secret model who was “massacred” by bed bugs is suing the hotel where she claims she received them, after the ordeal put her out of work for two months.
Sabrina Jales St Pierre said she wanted to “rip her skin off” after suffering more than 90 bites that covered almost her “entire body” while staying at the three-star Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel in Palm Desert in 2016.
The Brazilian stunner, who has modelled for Victoria's Secret, Versace, and Valentino, filed a lawsuit against the hotel chain in June.
She told : “'I literally wanted to rip my skin off.
“The first morning, when I woke up, I noticed a couple of bites on my arm, but I didn't think anything of it. And then, the second morning is when I noticed all the bites, and that's when it got worse.”
Sabrina had been staying at the hotel while on a shoot when she woke up to find dozens of red marks and welts on her arms, legs and back.
Her lawyer Brian Virag, who specialises in bed bug cases, said she “absolutely got massacred” and that they were among the worst bites he’d seen in almost 10 years.
Sabrina said the experience caused her to suffer physical and emotional distress. Mr Virag claimed she had nightmares about it and still suffers “psychological trauma and fear of bed bugs”.
“This was especially traumatic for Sabrina because her body is her work, so this severely affected her work and her career,” he explained.
“She had to continue working during the hotel stay, but the bite marks all over her body made her feel embarrassed, ashamed, and humiliated.”
He added that Sabrina also had to seek medical help for the bites for “an extended period of time”.
It’s not the first time the hotel has been at the centre of a bed bug saga. NBC Los Angeles previously reported how Gary Bruce, a Santa Ana Police sergeant who was in one of the lead police cars during the infamous OJ Simpson pursuit in Los Angeles in 1994, claimed he suffered several bed bug bites while staying there in June.
He said: “There's no doubt in my mind it was definitely bed bugs.”
According to NBC Los Angeles, an investigation in April also revealed the hotel didn’t always change pillowcases between guests. A manager at the time said they take the health and safety of its guests “very seriously” but “sometimes human error occurs”.
A manager for Embassy Suites claimed the organisation investigated the bed bug claims for both incidents and hired a pest control company to provide an assessment, but said not bed bugs were found.
General manager Carlos Mendoza said: “We did all the proper protocols and found no evidence,” adding: “Now we have to go through the lawsuit to defend the reputation of the hotel.”
He explained: “Our experience with bed bugs though is that people travel with them and bring them to hotels.
“Once they are in our rooms, we take corrective actions.”
Sabrina has filed a lawsuit against Hilton Worldwide Inc and Embassy Suites, seeking an unknown amount of money and punitive damages.
We previously told how Victoria’s Secret has seen a plunge in sales over the use of "unrelatable" supermodels, according to experts.
Here readers of various shapes recreated Victoria’s Secret ads to prove Angel lingerie suits fuller figures.
