A Decatur hotel long plagued with crime may be the first establishment of its kind in Georgia to receive a jury verdict in a civil sex trafficking case, after other accommodation providers in the state have settled similar lawsuits.
United Inn & Suites on Memorial Drive in DeKalb County is accused of profiting from the exploitation of a 16-year-old girl in late 2018 and early 2019. She alleged she was forced to have sex with dozens of men at the hotel with the assistance of its staff.
A federal jury selected Monday in Atlanta must determine whether the hotel is liable for its alleged involvement in the teen’s trafficking and to what extent she should be compensated. The plaintiff said in a pretrial case filing she will seek more than $20 million in damages.
On Tuesday, the jurors heard testimony from two former DeKalb detectives who led investigations into sex trafficking and other crimes against children within the county, including during the years the teen alleged she was trafficked at United Inn & Suites.
The hotel was one of the three worst establishments in DeKalb for sex and drug crimes, said Lieutenant C.D. King, who now works in the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, and Casey Benton, an investigator in the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office.
“Hotels are a common place for (sex trafficking) to occur,” Benton said. “When we’re looking for victims, that’s one of the first places we look.”
Tahir Shareef, the hotel’s owner and general manager, said he can’t stop crime from occurring on his property but always cooperates with law enforcement when problems arise.
“I’m not hiding anything,” Shareef testified Tuesday. “I never, ever allow to have this kind of crime at my business place. We always, always try to stop it.”
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Shareef acknowledged that he did not improve hotel security, bolster staff or amend policy after learning of prostitution, rape and other sex-related crimes on site in the years before the teen alleged she was trafficked there. He said he was satisfied with the security officers he employed.
He also acknowledged some of his staff, including the woman in charge of the hotel at night during the time the teen girl alleged she was trafficked, had criminal convictions. The teen claimed the woman, who currently lives and works at the hotel, assisted those who were trafficking her in 2018 and 2019.
Hotel staff do not know what happens in rooms behind closed doors, Shareef said. He said staff can’t tell if a child is related to the adults they are with.
The three men and four women on the jury learned Tuesday that the girl had been reported missing by the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office, which issued a notice to hotels and others asking them to be on the lookout for her.
King and Benton said prostitution and sex trafficking are common problems at most hotels, where anyone who is paying attention can spot obvious red flags such as many people going in and out of a single room. They said other warning signs include an individual paying for multiple rooms at a time and young girls with older men they don’t appear to be related to.
Benton said he investigated several cases of alleged sex trafficking at United Inn & Suites, including an incident in September 2019 involving two girls, ages 14 and 16. He said the 16-year-old was the one handing over money for the room to front office staff.
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com
King said a lot of crime happened at United Inn & Suites in large part because of its location in a high-crime area and its lack of security. He said the hotel had low lighting and that a lot of loitering and solicitation happened in its rear parking lot.
In 2018, DeKalb commissioners cited the hotel for more than 400 violations of county fire, health and building codes, records show. The hotel paid the county more than $60,000 as a result.
The girl’s case is expected to bring the first verdict of its kind in Georgia, where many hotels have been sued for alleged involvement in sex trafficking.
In June 2024, a case brought by 11 women who claimed they were trafficked at Red Roof Inn hotels in Smyrna and Buckhead settled in the middle of trial. Red Roof Inn had previously settled a related case on the eve of trial in November 2023.
Two other sex trafficking cases against United Inn & Suites were thrown out before trial by a federal judge in Atlanta in June 2024. The plaintiffs in those cases have appealed the rulings in the hotel’s favor.
Jurors in the teen’s case could start deliberating this week.
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