The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

She thought she could depend on the kindness of strangers, but federal prosecutors say a 17-year-old girl lured by an offer of free room and board was instead forced into prostitution.

Steven E. Thompson, 42, and Tierra Michelle Waters, 30, both of Atlanta, were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on charges of sex trafficking of a juvenile and conspiring to do the same. Each charge carries the possibility of life in prison.

“These defendants preyed on a young girl in need requiring her to have sex with men if she wanted to keep a roof over her head,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in the news release.

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This week WABE aired remarks from Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed that more recent data is needed to give detailed numbers about sex trafficking in Atlanta.

Reed also said the crime has significantly moved out to the rural areas.

WABE’s Rose Scott reports on reaction to Reed’s comments.

If you type in sex trafficking and Atlanta into any online search engine, countless links to articles, presentation papers and news documentaries will surface.

Even as late as December 2012, one headline read Atlanta is number 1 hub for child sex trafficking.

As for an accurate number to detail how many children are victims, Cheryl Deluca-Johnson says that type of research should be unending.

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Along the Interstate 20 corridor between Atlanta and Augusta, Greene County deputies stop many cars for traffic violations. What they find inside some of those vehicles may shock you.

“We’re seeing clothes, lingerie and a large quantity of this stuff,” described Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy Patrick Paquette.

Paquette says he and his team are trained to look for signs that indicate sex trafficking.

“Sexual toys, large quantities of condoms, those are things we’re seeing and that’s a clue something may be going on.”

Paquette tells us that his team stops two to three cars every week going to or through Augusta and finds signs the girl inside is being sold for sex.

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A 25-year-old Atlanta woman was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison Monday for transporting a teenage girl across state lines for prostitution.

Jessica Loren Posey pleaded guilty in February to transporting a 16-year-old to Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio to have sex for money, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

“Child sex trafficking is an horrific crime committed by both men and women,” U.S. Attorney Sally Yates said in the news release. “This defendant had no regard for the vulnerability of her victim and lured her into a quick-money lifestyle that led to the juvenile’s repeated sexual exploitation.”

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A 19-year-old has been charged with human trafficking.

Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry says Tyler Standifur used a young girl for prostitution, beginning when she was just 11.

“Just a little girl and anybody that’d see her would know she’s a little girl,” Berry.

The girl told investigators this went on for two years without her parents’ knowledge. The girl, now 13, told her school principal on Wednesday.

“She honestly felt her and her family’s lives were in danger if she told anyone,” Berry said.

Standifur’s mother and uncle said they don’t believe the charges.

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Savannah-Chatham police and U.S. Marshals have arrested two Savannah men charged with pimping for three teenage girls ages 15 and 14.

Colby Bragg, 21, was arrested Monday by police officers at the W.W. Law Center on three charges of statutory rape, pimping and possession of marijuana.

Stephone Brown, 21, was arrested Tuesday morning by the U.S. Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force and police officers on President Street and charged with two counts of human trafficking and pimping for a person under age 18.

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“Operation Guarding Innocence” targeted 98 people involved with distributing child porn over the internet. It’s the largest operation of its kind in Georgia

The state-wide endeavor included 50 teams representing 47 Federal, State and Local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies.

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A convicted pimp was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison for prostituting a pair of teens.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gail Flake gave Darryl Bearnard Curry an additional 20 years of probation, citing the impact he had on his two victims and his apparent lack of contrition during the trial earlier this month.

“This court has observed your arrogance and has not observed any remorse on your part,” Flake told Curry. “It’s clear to the court that you have caused immense destruction in the lives of these victims. I’m sure this destruction is going to remain with these young ladies for the rest of their lives.”

Assistant DeKalb district attorney Dalia Racine asked the judge to sentence him to 183 years in prison, reading a letter from Curry’s oldest victim to emphasize his impact.

“The fear that lives with me, always being scared that someone is going to hurt me or take me from my home … it’s not just him, it’s all men,” Racine read from the victim’s words. “The way that I hate men is all because of him. I feel as if I’m stuck in that house, in my personal Hell.”

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                    Michael Moore, U.S. Attorney, Middle District of Georgia

Georgia will still go after the pimps and other perpetrators of child sex trafficking with every legal weapon in its arsenal. State Attorney General Sam Olens made that clear Monday at the kickoff of a public awareness campaign called “Georgia’s Not Buying It.”

But he and others in law enforcement made this clear as well: Georgia’s effort to wipe out this depraved abuse and exploitation of children will target the demand side as well as the supply side. The men who pay for sex with children are in the state’s crosshairs right there along with the pimps.

U.S. Attorney Michael Moore made specific reference to massage parlor billboards along Georgia highways: “I think there are legitimate places to get a massage,” he said, “but I also know that in a lot of these places it’s basically an in-your-face form of prostitution and oftentimes a place where we have trafficking of young girls.”

Read more here.