COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A father told Channel 2′s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell he was falsely accused of being a sexual predator during a family vacation.
Newell spoke to the upset father in an exclusive new interview on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m.
Justin Nixon says he drove from Florida to visit his daughter in Cobb County.
He checked into the La Quinta Inn and Suites By Wyndham Kennesaw with his 12-year-old daughter, but says the trip took a turn for the worse after the hotel clerk made false accusations about him.
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Nixon says he began recording some of the fight on his cellphone after the hotel clerk called police.
In the video, you can hear Nixon say, “You pretty much called me a sexual predator in front of my child, my 12-year-old girl.”
You can hear the hotel clerk respond to Nixon in the cellphone video saying, “I’m not going to apologize for doing my due diligence.”
“She’s yelling at me, out of nowhere she says, ‘Where’s this little girl’s parents? What are you doing with this little girl and why are you alone in a room with her? You’re going to tell me now or I’m taking it to another level,’” Nixon said.
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It happened over the weekend, but the visit was cut short when Nixon says he was falsely accused. He says he checked out of the hotel and got a refund.
“I go to the room to get my stuff, and when I come back, the police are in the lobby,” Nixon said. “She says, ‘There he is right there,’ and points at me,” said Nixon.
In the cellphone video, you can see police standing next to Nixon and his daughter.
“He pulled my daughter aside and he was like, ‘Hey honey do you know him? What’s your date of birth?’ We had to call her mom. I had to get her birth certificate,” Nixon said.
Nixon says police apologized after determining he was the child’s father, but Nixon says he is still waiting for an apology from the hotel.
“It was just a crazy traumatizing situation for my daughter and myself. I came to visit her. My whole trip was ruined. It was unnecessary and uncalled for,” Nixon said.
Nixon is seeking legal action against the hotel.
The hotel manager said he is looking into the incident and it will take a couple of days for him to review everything.
Cobb County Police Sergeant Wayne Delk issued the following statement:
“Human trafficking is not only an issue facing our Cobb County community, but every metropolitan area in the country. The Cobb County Police Department makes every effort to investigate calls from observant citizens (as in this case) as well as tips from online sources and other law enforcement entities. We encourage everyone to maintain a certain amount of situational awareness and to call 911 if a situation or person appears suspicious. Far better for us to respond and everything be okay, than for us to not be called and it be an actual situation with a victim in need of rescuing.”
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