GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A 14-year-old girl who was the victim of human sex trafficking was rescued after she asked for a police officer’s help at a Gwinnett County Walmart.
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Channel 2′s Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson was in Lawrenceville, where Antonio Johnson-Irvin, Trey Trevillion, and Trevin Nichols were arrested last month.
On Wednesday, the judge dismissed the charges against Johnson-Irvin for lack of probable cause. Both Trevillion and Nichols remained charged with sex trafficking and will stay in jail. Police added charges for a woman they said was involved and lived where the alleged trafficking was happening.
Johnson was in the courtroom on Channel 2 Action News at 4 p.m. when police testified that the teen ran away from her home in Gwinnett County, met a man on social media, and then was allegedly drugged and sold for sex for nearly two weeks.
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“The victim disclosed to the officers she was sex-trafficked and was being held at 164 Maddox Street in apartment J and K,” a Lawrenceville police detective testified.
Det. Bratic testified in a hearing Wednesday that the victim met Trevin Nicholas on a social media app called Tagged.
“She remembers waking up and being tied to a tub,” Bratic said. “She remembers being forced to have sex with multiple men.”
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Lawrenceville police showed up at the Walmart for a call about a fight on Feb. 22. They ended up finding the victim, who said she’d been held against her will for nearly two weeks.
Police found an online ad for sex that featured a photo of the victim.
“The phone number linked to one of those ads was found on the couch in apartment K,” Bratic said.
Police are still searching for one more man they believe may be involved in the sex trafficking operation.
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