A 14-year-old girl has been rescued in Lawrenceville, Georgia. The young teen is believed to be a victim of sex trafficking. According to police, she ran away from her home and met a man on a social media app called Tagged. She was allegedly drugged and sex trafficked for two weeks.
Three men have been arrested in connection with this case and charged with trafficking: Antonio Johnson-Irvin, Trevin Nicholas, and Trey Trevillion, according to Atlanta News First.
The teen was rescued after alerting police while in a Walmart store.
Authorities were called to the Gwinnett County Walmart in connection with a call made about a fight that took place February 22. They met the victim there, according to Yahoo! News. The teen girl reached out to police officers and told them where she was staying and that she believed she had been drugged and sex trafficked for the past two weeks.
“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 during a hearing Wednesday, according to WSB. “She remembers waking up and being tied to a tub,” Bratic said. “She remembers being forced to have sex with multiple men."
Three men were charged in the case but one has since had charges dismissed.
Johnson-Irvin, Nicholas, and Trevillion were all charged, but on Wednesday, Johnson-Irvin's charges were dismissed. Both Nicholas and Trevillion remain in jail on sex trafficking charges. Additional charges have been added for a woman believed to be involved, WSB reported.
Human trafficking is a major problem in Georgia.
Several factors contribute to the tragic issue of human trafficking in Georgia. Local sporting, music, and business events in Atlanta, along with Atlanta airport being one of the busiest airports globally, all create ideal circumstances for traffickers.
Atlanta has been identified as having the second-highest human trafficking rate in the United States, according to Covenant Rescue Group, whose mission is to rescue captives, help them heal, and help get justice for perpetrators.
People are concerned about parents' lack of involvement with teen social media use.
Sadly, this is not the first case of a minor being trafficked or lured away from their home by a stranger met via social media. Cases like the one involving the 14-year-old girl rescued in Georgia highlight the need for parents to monitor and to be involved with their kids' social media use at all times.
“Computers should have parental controls and kids shouldn’t have cell phones until they are mature enough. But that’s a parents responsibility,” one person commented on Yahoo! News.
“This is horrible! I hope they get locked up for good. But this is also a cautionary tale and a teachable moment in regards to our children. These young people have soo much access to technology and it is unavoidable," someone else wrote. "It has to be drilled in their heads that this can happen to them. Also to check in on your kids to see what they are up to. Thank God she is alive, it could have been so much worse. I have a son but I speak to him the same way as I would if I had a daughter. Male and female teens go missing everyday.”
