Chamblee Police 'Familiar' With Hotel In Sex Trafficking Lawsuit

EDITOR'S NOTE: As Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta approached, Patch devoted exclusive coverage to the issue of human trafficking as it related to one of the world's biggest sporting events. Patch remains committed to covering this international plague with our continuing focus on local efforts to combat the crime.

CHAMBLEE, GA — After a local hotel was named in a sex trafficking lawsuit on Tuesday, Chamblee's police chief now says his department was familiar with the location and is assuring the public they pursue human trafficking seriously. The Suburban Extended Stay hotel on Peachtree Industrial Court in Chamblee is one of four metro Atlanta hotels being sued by four sex trafficking survivors. The lawsuits are the first in Georgia to claim the hotels profited from and participated in sex trafficking at their locations.

Between 2010 and 2016, the survivors claim they were trafficked in four metro hotels, and allege hotel employees were paid by their traffickers to permit the crime at the hotels and act as lookouts if police were called or if other guests noticed an increase in foot traffic — sometimes between 10 to 20 men per day — in and out of the rooms.

The other hotels named in the lawsuit are Smyrna's Red Roof at 2200 Corporate Plaza; the La Quinta Inn on North Point Drive in Alpharetta; and the Extended Stay America on Hammond Drive in Atlanta.

In a social media post, Chamblee Chief Of Police Kerry Thomas said four people were arrested back in May 2016 at the hotel by multiple law enforcement agencies as part of a human trafficking crackdown.

"Please be assured that Chamblee Police Department takes human trafficking seriously," Thomas said. "The department actively monitors establishments as well as works with regional operations like the one mentioned above."

After detailing lengthy histories of alleged criminal activity at the Smyrna and Chamblee hotels, the lawsuits allege multiple employees at the Red Roof Inn were paid by the survivors’ sex traffickers for years and that these employees knew the survivors were being trafficked at the hotel. The lawsuits allege corporate employees had information on the trafficking at the Smyrna Red Roof Inn and a hotel employee admitted in online news articles that the hotel was aware of sex trafficking, but still the company did not act.

Employees at the Suburban Extended Stay are alleged to have been paid by the survivors’ sex traffickers to act as lookouts and to make sure the survivors did not escape the hotel. One plaintiff confided in a Suburban Extended Stay employee in an attempt to escape from her trafficker. The lawsuit said the employee allegedly informed the trafficker and the trafficker beat the survivor at the hotel for the escape attempt.

More: Not For Sale: 100+ Minors Rescued In Child Sex Trafficking Op

The four lawsuits — filed anonymously by the survivors as “Jane Doe 1–4”— were filed in
U.S. District Court in Atlanta.

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