Local law firm shines light on sex trafficking at area budget hotels
The heinous crime of human sex trafficking may appear to many as something that happens in other places to people with whom we have nothing in common. But local law firm Andersen, Tate & Carr (ATC) set a precedent by settling a civil suit earlier this year against metro area locations of a national budget hotel chain that did nothing to keep the activity out of its facilities or aid the victims who were in obvious distress.
Although the sum awarded wasn’t disclosed, Jonathan Tonge, one of the lead lawyers, said it was enough to help the victims start over and get their lives on track. He shared his journey and the challenges faced in this landmark case. He discussed the complexities of trafficking cases, including the lengthy legal process, the emotional toll on survivors and the fact that it touches just about every corner of the globe.
“I’ve had cases at a hotel in Peachtree Corners. I’ve had cases at hotels in Norcross. I’ve had cases at hotels on Jimmy Carter. I’ve had cases on Peachtree Industrial that are close to [my office],” he said. “This stuff is happening at these places you’re driving by every day. It may be to lesser degrees than [the case we settled], but it is happening around here.”
In describing how he first got involved with the litigation, Tonge got a little emotional.
“It’s all really sad stories,” he said with a hitch in his voice. “I’ll cry if I talk about it.”
Long road to law school
Tonge may be a honey badger when it comes to standing up to tough opposition, but he’s kind-hearted and concerned about the well-being of his clients. He explained that he took the long way to getting into law and an even longer time to get the victims their day in court.
“I guess it was super unlikely that I would be a lawyer,” he said. “I went back to law school in my mid-30s — a little bit later than most people.”
Before that, he had a journalism degree and worked for some small newspapers in Madison and Winder. He also did some freelance writing.
“I played in bands for 10 or 15 years, playing bass and guitar and writing songs and stuff,” he said. “I went to Athens as an undergrad … and I never wanted to leave.”
After that, he opened a bookstore in Madison. That lasted for about five years.
He’d like to open another bookstore someday, but mega-retailer Amazon changed the game for mom-and-pops.
He did public relations for the Georgia Wildlife Federation, and from there he decided to go to law school.
“It seems like there’s a lot of lawyers that do that sort of thing. We would lobby at the capitol … and I would see lawyers there talking about bills, and I thought I could do that also,” he said. “It kind of got in my head, and I thought I was going to do some kind of public interest type thing. … I’m not a guy that’s going to go work at a huge firm. I knew that was not what I was interested in.”
In law school, he decided his research paper would be about slave labor in the seafood industry. He’d heard about the practice from his days with the Wildlife Federation.
“Georgia shrimpers are at a competitive disadvantage because of shrimp from Southeast Asia,” he said. “There’s a lot of human trafficking in that.”
The Trafficking Victim Protection Act
Tonge was trying to figure out how to do a lawsuit related to that, and he came across a law called the Trafficking Victim Protection Act. But to build a case for those kinds of victims he’d have to go through many layers of supply chains, laws from different countries and a lot of other components before the issue even reached American shores.
“It’s real complicated and it actually wouldn’t work,” he said. “I was looking at what the law said and I remember thinking that this law was more suited to sex trafficking victims suing hotels.”
The lightbulb moment prompted him to look for similar lawsuits, but there were none.
“That was probably 2014,” he said. “There was one lawsuit in the whole country in Massachusetts from a law that had been passed in 2008. It was against a real crappy hotel. And that was it. Nobody had ever filed another case in six years of this law.”
Setting a legal precedent
From his days on the road with different bands, Tonge knew about the seedy underbelly of some low-cost hotels.
“I’ve stayed in a lot of crappy hotels, and it’s kind of obvious [what’s going on there],” he said. “You just know it immediately when you see a place — and your guess is probably right. These places have a reputation for a reason.”
Once Tonge had the idea, it became an obsession.
“I was thinking this would be part of a solution to a big problem and nobody’s looking at it, everybody’s ignoring it,” he said. “From then on, I just told people that that was what I was going to do. I was going to sue hotels for sex traffic convictions.”
He devoted his second year of law school to the pursuit and found support among colleagues. When he graduated, he began working at ATC because he thought it would be the kind of firm that would allow him to work on the sex trafficking cases. But he left ATC to clerk for a federal judge and then went to a larger firm that he thought would move more quickly on the cases. That didn’t work out, so he went back to ATC and began working with Patrick McDonough to get the process underway.
Although he’d been working with McDonough since graduating from law school in 2016, it took the pair two and a half years once he returned to the firm to get into high gear.
“We met with anybody who would meet with us — nonprofit people, police officers, politicians, city officials, DFACS, anybody,” he said. “We would just tell people we think that trafficking victims have an opportunity to get compensated for their injury by suing hotels.”
Since nobody had ever done that, many were skeptical. But the cause built up momentum, and by the time a trial date was set, the firm had 11 clients.
“It’s like a small world of people who have been trafficked in Atlanta, and they’re getting help from the same kind of organizations,” he said. “The first thing you do in a lawsuit [is look for] witnesses.”
Victims come forward
After they got their first client on board, three more came along.
It was talking about that first client — Kristen — that caught Tonge’s emotions off guard.
“She passed away,” he said softly. “They used drugs to control her. They beat her also. They did all types of things. But she had a drug addiction issue, and she relapsed last fall.”
It was about two months before she would have gotten the opportunity to share her story that she succumbed to her demons.
“Her case had lasted over four years. It went up to the Court of Appeals — it was a really historic case — the first case in Georgia history,” he said. “It didn’t end well for her, but at least her kids have trust funds.”
Although Tonge couldn’t give more details about Kristen, he said all of his clients were American-born. Immigrants are also in danger of being trafficked, but they are much harder to reach.
“All of my clients are generally from Atlanta,” he said. “Kristen grew up in Johns Creek.”
The trial began in June and eight days in, Red Roof Inn agreed to an undisclosed settlement with the victims. The trial may have been cut short, but the testimony shed light on something that had festered in the dark for a long time. There are now hundreds of cases in the works across the country using the same methodology.
How can you help?
Although it’s impossible to know exactly how many people are being trafficked in the world, in this country or even in Georgia, the lawsuit brought about by ATC is a powerful weapon to help eradicate the abomination.
“I agree that there are some numbers out there on the internet that are wildly overblown. You know it’s not true that a million girls in Atlanta are being trafficked every five minutes — that’s not even mathematically possible,” Tonge said.
The nature of the crime makes it hard to catch the perpetrators. They take victims across state lines and prey upon the vulnerable — runaways, people without homes, people without hope, those who already have substance abuse problems and/or mental health issues.
Tonge said he doesn’t advise anyone to get directly involved if they suspect trafficking, but they shouldn’t turn a blind eye, either.
“Call the police,” he said. “The worst thing that happens is that you were wrong.”
Contact the Human Trafficking Hotline
- If you suspect human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll free at (888) 373-7888.
- To report suspected human trafficking in Georgia, call the statewide, 24-hour Human Trafficking Hotline at (866) 363-4842.
- If you have reason to believe that a victim is in imminent danger, call 911 or your local law enforcement agency to file a report.
- For more information on how to get help for both national and foreign-born victims of human trafficking, visit endhtga.org.
This feature originally ran in the December/January issue of Peachtree Corners Magazine. You can read the full digital edition of the magazine here.
