EDITOR'S NOTE: As Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta approached, Patch devoted exclusive coverage to the issue of human trafficking as it related to one of the world's biggest sporting events. Patch remains committed to covering this international plague with our continuing focus on local efforts to combat the crime.



SANDY SPRINGS, GA — The Extended Stay America on Hammond Drive in Atlanta is one of four metro Atlanta hotels being sued by four sex trafficking survivors. The lawsuits are the first in Georgia to claim the hotels profited from and participated in sex trafficking at their locations. Between 2010 and 2016, the survivors claim they were trafficked in four metro hotels, and allege hotel employees were paid by their traffickers to permit the crime at the hotels and act as lookouts if police were called or if other guests noticed an increase in foot traffic — sometimes between 10 to 20 men per day — in and out of the rooms. The plaintiffs are represented by Patrick McDonough and Jonathan Tonge of Andersen, Tate & Carr of Atlanta.

Besides the Extended Stay America on Hammond Drive, the other hotels named in the lawsuit are Suburban Extended Stay in Chamblee (now a Hometown Studios); Smyrna's Red Roof at 2200 Corporate Plaza; and the La Quinta Inn on North Point Drive in Alpharetta. After detailing lengthy histories of alleged criminal activity at the Smyrna and Chamblee hotels, the lawsuits allege multiple employees at the Red Roof Inn were paid by the survivors' sex traffickers for years and that these employees knew the survivors were being trafficked at the hotel. The lawsuits allege corporate employees had information on the trafficking at the Smyrna Red Roof Inn and a hotel employee admitted in online news articles that the hotel was aware of sex trafficking, but still the company did not act.

The complaints state that for many years, continuing to this day, the Red Roof Inn in Smyrna has maintained a policy at the front desk stating "NO REFUNDS AFTER 15 MINUTES." Employees at the Suburban Extended Stay are alleged to have been paid by the survivors' sex traffickers to act as lookouts and to make sure the survivors did not escape the hotel. One plaintiff confided in a Suburban Extended Stay employee in an attempt to escape from her trafficker. The lawsuit said the employee allegedly informed the trafficker and the trafficker beat the survivor at the hotel for the escape attempt.

At the La Quinta Inn, the complaints allege employees positioned the sex traffickers' rooms near the back exit of the hotel so the foot traffic of buyers coming in and out of the room would be less noticeable to the other guests. The traffickers were also provided with extra key cards to leave outside the hotel for buyers to use.

At the Extended Stay America, the complains allege when a survivor confided in an employee at the front desk, the employee's response was to offer the survivor an array of lingerie the employee kept for sale behind the counter because trafficking was so prevalent at the hotel.