An unsettling resolution has come to light in a child sex trafficking case involving a metro Atlanta Days Inn, where a settlement of $5 million in compensation has been agreed upon for two survivors. Fox 5 Atlanta reported that the settlement was reached after hotel staff were accused of not only turning a blind eye to the abuse, but in some instances, facilitating it.
The victims, who were 14 years old at the time of the abhorrent events at the Stockbridge hotel in March 2013, have been through unspeakable trauma."We had to do things that we didn't want to do. We had to do things that were not child appropriate," survivor Armani S. related in a statement obtained by Fox 5 Atlanta. Her attorney, Pat McDonough, pointed to evidence implicating hotel workers, with a front desk allegedly complicit in the trafficking.
In the quest for justice, McDonough aims to hold the hospitality industry accountable, asserting the purpose of such lawsuits is to make it financially unviable for hotels to allow such crimes to go unchecked. Armani S. has asserted that making the settlement public was paramount. "I want to spread awareness, one to the survivors like myself. So. So the people that are actually still ongoing in it. And three, to those who turned a blind eye," she told Fox 5 Atlanta.
Armani Johnson, another victim in this tragic series of events, spoke with WRDW's sister station, Atlanta News First, saying, “I was manipulated. I was looking for love in all the wrong places, and at that moment I felt like that was what love was,” Johnson's attorney echoed prior sentiments, emphasizing the responsibility business owners need to acknowledge. "We want everybody who runs a hotel to know that if you’re going to profit off of children, you’re going to be held accountable," McDonough stated, as obtained by WRDW.
Despite repeated attempts, there has been no comment from Days Inn or Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Days Inn brand. When Atlanta News First sought a response at the Days Inn location in question, they learned the owner was reportedly out of the country.
