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Man charged in connection with human trafficking in Charlotte

By Jim Bradley
By Jim Bradley

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The arrest of a Charlotte man on charges of aiding prostitution involving teenage girls is raising more questions about the city's prominence in the human-trafficking industry.
 
Police arrested Deangelo Hughey Thursday night.
 
"What were you doing with those young girls?" Hughey was asked by Channel 9.
 
"I (did not have any) young girls," he said.
 
Police charged Hughey with contributing to the delinquency of juveniles and promoting prostitution involving one girl who was 16 and another who was just 15, according to arrest warrants.
 
Police found the girls with Hughey at the Baymont Hotel just off Billy Graham Parkway near the airport.

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Human trafficking is happening with alarming frequency, said Capt. Coerte Vorhees, who heads the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Vice Squad.

"If you get a hotel room and you have a phone, you can post an ad, you can take a picture and communicate with 'johns,'” Vorhees said.

Lanie George, who said she spent years as a sex-trafficking victim and now runs a program to rescue women from traffickers, says it is high season for trafficking in Charlotte.
 
"With the golf tournament and NASCAR (Sprint All-Star Race), we've got an influx of people, we've got an influx of men and we've got an influx of income," George said.
 
George rescued "Joy" from trafficking two years ago.
 
"It's prison," George said. "It's hell. It's dark."
 
Joy said she and other women were shuffled, often daily, between hotels and cities across the Southeast.
 
Charlotte was always a destination, she said.
 
"I was told this is where we're going to make a lot of money," Joy said. "This is where we're going to make our 'daddies,' our pimps, a lot of money."
 
While the courts decide if Hughey is innocent or guilty, George said human trafficking in Charlotte rolls on.
 
"It's just underground and people don't know," George said. "But it's happening."

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