ATLANTA — A 15-year-old human trafficking victim is getting credit for helping police arrest a ring of suspected human traffickers. Atlanta police say the teen’s love of crime shows is the reason she compiled so much information and shared it with them.
Police say that she was trafficked by Albert Wells at America’s Best Value Inn on Memorial Drive.
“Yeah, that bothers me a lot, man,” Damonte Freeman, a father of five who works near the motel said. “You see kids, man, on the streets and stuff and you never think like they’ll be around here getting sex trafficked the whole time.”
But that’s exactly what police say happened.
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“She was reported missing back in December,” Atlanta Police Investigator Tracy Lewis said at a news conference on Friday morning.
Lewis says the 15-year-old girl escaped and went to someone who called 911.
“She was able to provide us names of the suspects, which were the traffickers,” she explained
A joint investigation that included DeKalb police, the DeKalb District Attorney’s office, the FBI and others led to the arrest of Wells, Levi Sears, Taalib Blount and Talmes Eugene Smith.
Officers told Channel 2′s Tom Jones they are still searching for Harold Poole.
Investigators say the 15-year-old told them the men would traffick her at the motel, the Adams House apartments on Campbellton Road, truck stops and gas stations.
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Police say she gave them valuable information like tag numbers that helped track down her tormentors.
“She watches crime shows so she kind of tried to remember things so just in case something happened to her,” Lewis said.
Police believe three other victims between the ages of 14 and 16 are possibly connected to this case.
Freeman says it makes no sense.
“Don’t no child deserve that. They ain’t even got a chance to grow,” he said.
Managers at America’s Best Value Inn say their hearts go out to the 15-year-old, and it made them mad when they found out what happened. They say they don’t condone human trafficking.
Managers at Adams House say they have a new management team in place and they weren’t aware of the allegations.
Police are asking for the public’s help finding Poole. If you have any information, you’re asked to call Atlanta police or Crime Stoppers at 404-577-8477.
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