Defendants get lengthy sentences in first Human Trafficking Unit trial
Oct. 11—ATLANTA — Attorney General Chris Carr has announced that the office's Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit obtained lengthy prison sentences for two individuals convicted of human trafficking.
The case included two counts each of trafficking of persons for sexual servitude. A Cobb County jury had returned the verdict on Sept. 24 in the trial of the State of Georgia v. Keron Hamilton and Meyetta King-Brown. The case marked the first jury trial conviction for Carr's Human Trafficking Unit that was formed in 2019.
"I am pleased with the sentences handed down in this historic case, but we will not stop here," Carr said in a news release. "I stated when the Human Trafficking Unit was starting that we will work every single day with all of our law enforcement partners to protect our state's most vulnerable and put buyers and traffickers behind bars. This is justice for the victims, a great result for Georgia and our Human Trafficking Unit."
Superior Court Judge Ann B. Harris noted in the hearing that "sex trafficking doesn't just happen around airports or sporting events. It is in our community." In sentencing the defendants, Harris remarked that they used the "young, vulnerable" victims "to enrich themselves." Before sentencing the defendants to decades in prison, Harris concluded by commenting, "We are all responsible for our choices."
This case involved a 16-year-old female. On Oct. 12, 2017, Hamilton and King-Brown transported the female to a hotel on Interstate Parkway North in Cobb County for the purpose of sexual servitude. The co-defendants arranged for the minor to perform sex acts with a man they had been communicating with on an online chat application. Unbeknownst to Hamilton and King-Brown, the recipient of their messages was an undercover officer working as part of an operation at the hotel with the Cobb County Police Department in partnership with the FBI's MATCH task force. After arriving at the hotel and upon making contact with the undercover officer, the minor was recovered.
Hamilton and King-Brown were found at a nearby gas station. They reported to police that they were only giving the minor a ride and had no knowledge of her activities that night. In order to prove the state's case, the human trafficking prosecution unit presented evidence to the jury of an incident which had occurred in DeKalb County in 2016 wherein the co-defendants had similarly transported a 15-year-old female in circumstances that indicated human trafficking was likely occurring.
A summary of the charges against these individuals and sentencing includes:
Keron Hamilton and Meyetta King-Brown
Count 1: The said accused codefendants did, on Oct. 12, 2017, harbor and provide a person under the age of 18 for sexual servitude.
Count 2: The said accused codefendants did, on Oct. 12, 2017 transport a person under the age of 18 for sexual servitude.
Sentencing:
Keron Hamilton: 30 years to serve in prison.
Meyetta King-Brown: 20 years to serve in prison.
This result would not have been possible without the partnership of the FBI and the Cobb County Police Department, which conducted the investigation, and the assistance of the office of Cobb County District Attorney Flynn D. Broady Jr. in the prosecution of this case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorneys General Hannah Palmquist and Whitney Reeves of the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.
