3 women say they escaped metro Atlanta home after being trafficked for sex

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Police are trying to figure out if women were held against their will in a case of sex trafficking in Gwinnett County.

Channel 2′s Tom Regan was in Lilburn, where three people were arrested after squatting in a home. One woman told police she was being held against her will and escaped. Investigators talked to two other women who had similar and disturbing stories.

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A 911 call last week led police to a 19-year-old woman who said she had escaped from a home on Hood Road.

“She felt like she was not free to leave, like she was being assaulted,” Capt. Scott Bennett with the Lilburn police said.

On Tuesday, police got another call about a woman walking in the neighborhood. Police took her in and questioned her. Bennett said she made similar claims to the first woman -- that she was being held against her will and sexually assaulted.

There was enough evidence for police to get a warrant to search the home, where police found people squatting after their lease ran out.

Philip McMurries told Regan he lives on a camper on the property, which police also searched.

“They tore the hell out of my camper, tossed it from top to bottom,” McMurries said.

McMurries said he’s lived on the 6-acre property for about a year and paid rent. He said he had no knowledge that the women were claiming false imprisonment.

“I can recall all kinds of women here,” McMurries said. “To my knowledge, none held against their will.”

Police arrested two men and a woman on charges of possessing methamphetamine. So far, they haven’t found any evidence of sex crimes.

“We are still investigating the claims of false imprisonment and sexual abuse. That portion of the investigation is still on going,” Bennett said.

The two women are now living in transitional housing.

Police are also looking into old reports of 911 calls to the home.

8 men arrested during undercover sex trafficking sting (NCD)

Cox Media Group