GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A Gastonia teenager was lured to Atlanta by human traffickers and was offering sex online, according to an undercover officer who arranged to meet the girl at a hotel.
The teenager told the officer that she was brought to the area by human traffickers and was promised that she could make fast money.
The 17-year-old girl made contact on Facebook and was lured from her Gastonia home by accused human traffickers Natasha Otero and Jamar Girley, authorities said.
Undercover officers in Alpharetta, Georgia, said they met the teen during a prostitution sting at a hotel where they were investigating people offering sex for money via Craigslist and other websites.
"The female agreed to meet our undercover officer, not knowing he's an officer," said George Gordon of the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety.
The teen asked for $260 in cash at the hotel and started to undress, authorities said.
Officers told her it was a sting.
She told them that her pimp, Girley, "drove her to Georgia from North Carolina," promising that "she could make some money."
The pimp had full knowledge of bringing girls across state lines for prostitution, authorities said.
The teen also said Otero, 19, of Bessemer City lured and encouraged her through messages on Facebook.
"Sometimes these kids have been brainwashed. They think that their perpetrator is someone who wants to take care of them and wants the best for them,” said Whitney Bexley of Atlanta nonprofit Street Grace.
The teenager was reunited with her mother in Gastonia. Otero and Girley were charged with multiple crimes, including trafficking.
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