Red Roof Inn denies sex trafficking allegations as jury selection begins for federal trial in Cobb – WSB-TV Channel 2

There, Newell explained how the 11 plaintiffs said sex trafficking took place at the hotel, and another, from 2009 to 2018.

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The civil lawsuit that brings the 11 survivors and the Red Roof Inn to court is more than 100 pages describing what the survivors say they experienced at the two hotels for more than six years.

“You see young girls on the premises, you see men coming in and out of the rooms every day. Potentially up to 100 every day,” said Emma Hetherington, director of the Child Harm and Sexual Exploitation Clinic at the University of Georgia Law School.

More than a year after plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Red Roof Inn, jury selection is underway.

As Channel 2 Action News As previously reported, the lawsuit alleges that sex trafficking took place at several properties in the Atlanta metro area.

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Hetherington said the trial could be the first of its kind.

“This could potentially be the first lawsuit in the country where the nationally branded hotel is held liable for knowing or should have known that trafficking was taking place on its properties and did nothing to address it,” Hetherington said .

She has been following the case for some time.

“We know that some of the money made at these hotels may have come from traffic,” Hetherington said.

The allegations center on the location of the Windy Hill Road Red Roof Inn and another in Buckhead at North Druid Hills and Buford Highway, according to the lawsuit.

The court filing alleges that employees at both hotels admitted to seeing teenage girls sold for sex. At least two police reports detail the experiences of women who escaped traffickers on the Smyrna property. In 2017, a guest at the same property told police that “she was kidnapped and forced[d] in prostitution. »

“It goes down to the companies and ultimately they really need to be held accountable,” Hetherington said.

Cobb County police told Newell they made 19 arrests related to human trafficking between 2009 and 2018, but it's unclear if any of those arrests took place at this Red Roof Inn .

In a statement shared with Channel 2 Action NewsRed Roof Inn has denied any involvement in sex trafficking or the allegations made in court.

“Red Roof denies and will vigorously defend these allegations, and condemns sex trafficking in all its forms. Red Roof mandates the globally recognized PACT training module to help train hotel staff to identify and report human trafficking to authorities. Red Roof actively works with the hospitality industry through its alliances with AAHOA, AHLA, No Room for Trafficking Advisory Council, PACT and SOAP in the fight to eradicate victim trafficking and exploitation.

Jury selection continues in court Wednesday.

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