Sex Trafficking2010
United States US
David Lee Walker Age: 29 Sentenced to 12 years in prison for Human Trafficking and other related charges - May 20, 2011 David Lee Walker, a pimp who operated in the metro Atlanta area, controlled at least five women, all between the ages of 20 and 24. They operated out of Rodeway Inn at Fulton Industrial Boulevard, south of the city. But one night, apparently, one of the girls decided she had had enough and wanted to leave. When Walker wasn't around, she fled to a nearby restaurant - The Varsity - to look for help. But Walker found out, and he ordered the other women he controlled to bring her back to their motel. Walker and the women beat the 21-year-old with a bottle until her eyes swelled shut and there was a hole in her head. Then, one of the women locked her in the dog cage and left her there overnight, with injuries untreated. Five people, including alleged pimp David Lee Walker, are charged with beating the woman until her eyes were swollen shut and she had a hole in her head from being hit with a bottle. The victim was then forced into a 3-by-5 foot dog cage and kept there overnight. Walker sent cell phone pictures of the caged woman to other pimps.
CSEC2011
United States US
On February 20, 2009, the Metro Atlanta Child Exploitation Task Force (“MATCH,”)established an undercover operation at a hotel in the Northern District of Georgia, for the purpose of rescuing minors being caused to engage in prostitution. An undercover task force officer made a date for sex with a girl based upon her advertisement found in the erotic services section of Craigslist. The girl, advertised as “Mya” and 19, who appeared naked in the advertisement, looked underage. Upon arriving at the hotel, “Mya” met with the undercover agent, made an offer of prostitution services, and was arrested. Investigators subsequently identified “Mya” as a 16-year-old child. The advertisement of “Mya” had been placed on the Internet website by another individual at the direction of Pressley. Pressleyknew that “Mya” was a minor, having known the child since she was 15 years old. In September 2008, Atlanta Police were called to Grady Hospital regarding a 17-year-old female who had come to the hospital for treatment. Investigation into the erotic services section of Craigslist.com revealed that beginning in April 2009, a photograph of this minor was located posting sexual services in Atlanta by Pressley. At the time of the postings, the girl was 17 years old.
CSEC2011
United States US
On November 23, 2010, a federal jury convicted Amador Cortes-Meza, 36, of Tlaxcala, Mexico, of multiple charges of sex trafficking and human smuggling offenses related to a scheme to force women and juveniles into prostitution. The jury found Cortes-Meza guilty on all 19 counts after a trial lasting approximately two weeks. According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, “This defendant preyed on the most vulnerable of victims--girls and young women hoping for a better life-- through promises of jobs or marriage. He then physically abused them, enslaved them, and forced them into prostitution. According to the evidence presented in court, from Spring 2006 through June 2008, Amador Cortes-Meza and others charged in the conspiracy recruited and enticed approximately 10 victims to enter the United States illegally from Mexico and come to the Atlanta area. Amador Cortes-Meza then forced them into prostitution for the financial benefit of the members of the conspiracy. He lured the young women and girls to the U.S. by promising better lives, legitimate employment or romantic relationships with him. A brother and two nephews of Amador Cortes-Meza were previously convicted after pleading guilty to sex trafficking charges related to this scheme. Nine of the victims addressed the court about what they suffered at the hands of this sex trafficking ring, telling of physical threats, beatings, and intimidation which caused them to work as prostitutes against their will. Evidence at trial showed that after smuggling the victims into the United States, Amador Cortes-Meza forced them to engage in prostitution by isolating them from their families, brutally beating them, and threatening to harm them and their loved ones. One victim testified that he told her that “he was going to hit her where it hurt the most” and she took that to mean he was going to go after her family. Another victim testified that the defendant told her he would kill her parents in Mexico if he was ever arrested. On a nightly basis, Amador Cortes-Meza provided the victims to drivers who drove them to apartments and homes in Duluth, Ga.; Chamblee, Ga.; Canton, Ga.; Marietta, Ga.; Forrest Park, Ga.; and as far away as Alabama and North Carolina to provide commercial sex to as many as 40 customers a night. The victims testified that the clients were charged $25-30 for 10 to 15 minutes of time with them from which the drivers were given $10.