A 22 year-old Sandy Springs man has been arrested in Athens, Ga., and charged with pimping a person under 18 and sex trafficking.
David Jaquile Freedom Hightower of Roberts Drive in Sandy Springs faces two charges of pimping a person under 18, two charges of trafficking and also two charges of armed robbery. Also arrested was Aaron Staley, 22, of Covington. Staley faces the same charges. Both men are being held without bond at the Athens-Clark County Jail.
Lt. Jeff Clark, commander of the Athens-Clarke County Police Department’s Sex Crimes unit, said his department received a tip from New York that a 16 year-old was being held against her will at a Days Inn in Athens and forced to engage in sex in exchange for money.
“We conducted a preliminary investigation and we found the juvenile in question with two male suspects,” Clark said. “All were separated from each other and we learned this was a possible sex trafficking incident.”
“They had not been there long,” Clark said.
The two men held the young victim at gunpoint and stole from her leading to the armed robbery charge, Clark said.
The men met the teenager in New York, he said.
A second juvenile who was being sold for sex at the Days Inn in Athens was found by Florida law enforcement in Florida in that state with five other men. The five men were arrested.