Hello everyone. Thank you for coming. I really appreciate you all coming out.
My name is Investigator Tracy Lewis. Tr Ac Ylew,
I si am an investigator with the city of Atlanta Police Department,
Special Victims Unit,
C
OPS unit that is C as in Charlie eop as in Paul S
and the FBI uh match task force
on February.
The 29th Atlanta police officers were dispatched
to um children's health care of Atlanta.
Um in reference to a call of a 15 year old female um that had been reported missing,
um but they have recently recovered.
Um myself and my counterpart, um Investigator Franklin,
we arrived at Hughes Balding
where we interviewed the young lady in reference to
um her whereabouts and what had happened with her.
She was able to provide um details stating that she had been trafficked.
Um She had been reported missing back in um February
and this is now when we're well, I'm sorry, she was reported missing back in December
all the way up until February.
Um
she was able to provide us names of the suspects
which were the traffickers
as well as that evening.
We were able to obtain uh the identification of one
of the um traffickers that um that was holding her.
Um This trafficking situation was located where she was being held was again,
it was in Dekalb as well as in Atlanta.
It started in Dekalb County and then she was then transported to Atlanta.
Um
during this time that she outlined everything
she identified one suspect at the moment
as being Albert Wills and she accused him of um trafficking her for sexual servitude
during a forensic interview.
Um she mentioned a similar,
she was speaking to us about what was going
on with her and she was providing more information
during this interview, the forensic interviewer
um
found out that there was a,
she remembered a case where she interviewed another
young lady who was also a trafficking victim
and she was able to put these two link these two cases together.
Um She then in turn got me in contact with in
with detective
Benton
and uh and Detective Mason
with the Dekalb County um das office in Dekalb County Police Department.
And from that, the investigation
um began to come together.
Um
It was determined during this joint investigation that
the victim as well as possibly three other victims
were trafficked by these men
that we have in custody at this moment in time,
it was determined that these sexual servitude places, these sexual servitude
um tracking situations took place in Dekalb County,
firmly in Dekalb County and firmly in Fulton County
at
this time, um with the assistance of Detective um Benton and detective um Merson
with the Dekalb County P DS office and Dekalb County das office.
We were established, we established a link to these um
subjects as well as to the victim.
The subjects that we have in custody at this moment in time are Albert Wills
Eugene Smith
Talbot Blunt,
and also subsequently during our investigation,
we determined there was another male that um
that was charged and his name is Levi Sears
at this moment in time.
Um The main focus that we're having this press conference is to shed light on that.
We have one more outstanding suspect.
That suspect's name is Harold Poole
Haroldp as in Paul Oole.
If anyone knows the whereabouts of, of Mr Harold Poole,
please call 911 or either Atlanta police crime stoppers.
You can get a a
you can call anonymously
or for a po possible award up to $2000.
The phone number for crime stoppers is 404844 tips,
404844 tips.
Um This does remain to be an ongoing investigation.
Um Like I said,
we do have other victims out here that we're gonna have
to speak to and get them to identify our subjects.
Um Anything pertaining to charges. Um the public defender.
I'm sorry,
the Public affairs office will speak to
you all about these gentlemen specific charges.
Um I want to take a moment out for a moment and um just want to thank our partners
with this uh investigation and with any
other human trafficking investigation that we have,
uh just want everyone to know that um
local law enforcement and nationwide law enforcement,
we are working together
very profusely to stop this trafficking
issues that we have in this country.
Um I want to thank for this case specifically Dekalb County das office,
the Dekalb County Police Department
as well as the Child, the Center for Child Advocacy
and the Department of Family and Children's Services and the FBI.
Thank you.
Yeah,
good morning.
Uh
I'm Casey Benson. I'm an investigator
in the office of the Dekalb County District Attorney, Sherry Boston.
I'm honored to stand here this morning with our law enforcement partners
who have worked tirelessly on this case
uh to rescue the victim in this case and to identify
and arrest those who are accused
of exploiting this victim for their own gain.
This case is a prime example
of why it's critical that law enforcement
prioritize human trafficking investigations,
traffickers prey on the most vulnerable people in our community.
People who oftentimes feel like they have no one to trust and nowhere to turn.
I've worked in the Dekalb County District Attorney's Office for two years now.
But recently I've moved to a position that is solely
uh dedicated
to human trafficking and internet crimes against Children.
Our office recognized the critical need to address these types of crimes.
And thanks to a federal grant.
Uh I am proud to say that every day I
get to work with law enforcement agencies across Dekalb County,
including Dekalb Police and Atlanta police
to stop traffickers
and abusers from victimizing people in our communities.
Traffickers don't just operate in one city or one county.
In fact,
they oftentimes move their victims from place to
place in an effort to hide from law enforcement
traffickers.
Uh
That's why it's so important to have these partnerships.
And today we stand united to send a
message to
traffickers
that if you victimize
people in our community,
we will find you,
we will stop you
and we will hold you accountable.
Thank you.
I wanna thank you all for coming out today.
Um The last thing I wanna uh make very clear is that this
press conference is not just to highlight the accolades of our investigation.
This is also to
show and shed light on that. We're looking for this gentleman, Mr Harold Poole.
Um He is outstanding. He does have warrants for his arrest pertaining to this case.
And then again,
if anyone has any information pertaining to Mr Harold Poole's whereabouts,
they can contact 911
or they can contact the Atlanta C crime stoppers
at 404577 tips and they can remain anonymous.
Thank you so much for your time.
Yes.
So
can you give us the ages of the other f
at this time, I don't have their ages, but they range from ages of 14 to 16 years old.
So, um a lot of these young ladies, unfortunately, and young men,
they are um already in foster care or in the foster care systems,
but that's not always how we get our vic. We have victims.
They are also Children that are at home every day with their parents.
Um We have a lot, we have a big issue with social media these days.
They're recruiting from social media.
They're also having their friends and their
counterparts that are in school with them,
recruit them as well.
So it's just depending on which situation you're referring
to is always different on how they're being recruited.
So would you describe this as a sex trafficking ring?
Is there multiple victims other than these three that you've
identified that you think maybe are still out there or
as of right now?
The only thing that we know of um is the three
victims that are remaining that we need to speak with.
Um If we determine later on in our investigation that there are more,
then we'll expand it further.
You said three victims, you need to speak with you.
No, we have identified them but we just need to speak with them
when you talk about them being lured on social media,
the boys and girls who fall victim to these people.
I know they're not just saying, hey, come work for me,
I'm gonna put you to work having sex with strangers.
What is that message that lures these otherwise,
um, you know, sort of lost for good kids into,
um, being victimized this way. How are they targeting them so effectively?
So, it's like with most of us that are, that were teenagers once upon a time, um,
you lure them in with freedom, um, partying, they can come and party with them,
hang out.
Um, a lot of times you have, um, subjects that are
trying to become their boyfriends, they,
they start off being nice and buying them things and everything,
showing them love and affection.
And then
all of a sudden they have to start proving their love
or either it turns into a situation to where they
just come back one day from getting them something to eat
and they just began beating them and let them t
and just telling them that they're going to do this.
Um So it's many different varieties of ways that, um, traffickers
do these things to these young men and young women.
So when it comes down to Children,
um, Children really don't have the ability to
say
like I wanna go or I wanna leave, they don't have the, the means to say, ok,
I'm just gonna get in a cab or I'm gonna leave their, their Children.
So be
18 and below those are what we consider Children.
They don't have the ability to just say I'm just gonna leave and that's gonna be ok.
Um,
there are also being threats of where of violence that if they do
return home and they do tell that things will happen to them.
So freedom is not a situation that these people
are encountering when it comes down to these traffickers. So
it
must have been awfully courageous
of this 15 year old to make this decision to call 911.
Were you able to give us any insight to what was going through her head to make her say
enough is enough?
Well, um,
she actually went to a place of refuge and the person that she went to
seek refuge from was actually very nice to her and actually called 911 for her.
Um,
and we want to thank her as well.
Um But during this investigation, she was absolutely wonderful.
She's a very sweet young lady.
She has a big future
ahead of her.
Um We just pray that she will be ok from this.
Um The other part is is that she was very, very knowledgeable about
what was going on. She made sure that she remembered things and stuff like that.
She was excellent.
Um, she remembered tag numbers and stuff like that
and it's because she watches crime shows.
She told us this because she watches crime shows. So she kind of
tried to remember things. So just in case that something happened to her,
we will be able to find out who did it and where she was.
So was she was, she was,
these victims were held about the world but she was able to escape the
home to get to a place of reference to refuse to call 911.
Ok.
Have any of these suspects showed up on your radar before?
No,
no, sir.
They have not been, they, none of these suspects did we have any knowledge about?
So, um,
none of them are Atlanta residents per se. Um
One Mr Smith had an apartment here in Atlanta
where the victim was being trafficked out of.
But however, he has been since evicted from that location
and he was living in Dekalb,
but none of them have Atlanta addresses whatsoever.
There's, there's,
you know, tracking sites.
So we have identified, um, specifically two locations, one in Atlanta and one in,
um, Dekalb County.
There are other locations where the young ladies would go and they
would have to meet with the parties such as truck stops,
gas stations inside stores
and things like that to where they would
have to service these gentlemen for sexual pleasures,
for money.
Do you have any idea about how long they had, uh, the
group had been doing this, you know, beyond the most recent cases?
No, we don't.
All right. Thank you, everyone.
Thank you.