GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Three previously missing Gwinnett County teens are now safe.
Investigators rescued them in a human trafficking operation near extended stay motels. It was part of a human trafficking operation led by the TRACE (Trafficking and Child Exploitation) Unit.
The teens were rescued near Oakbrook Parkway.
“For us, the most important thing is that they were recovered,” Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office Assistant Chief Austin Godfrey said. “Kids that are missing, there’s a level of vulnerability that there is a potential that there could be some trafficking there.”
Godfrey says they’re working to identify suspects linked to the 16-year-old, and two 17-year-old girls they found.
Godfrey says the TRACE Unit’s main job is finding child predators.
“Whether it’s trafficking, or whether it’s any level of child exploitation online, and it’s what they do every single day,” Godfrey said.
Brooke Ruffin, with the nonprofit Street Grace, works with trafficking survivors in Gwinnett County and beyond.