Man Convicted In Gwinnett's First Human Trafficking Trial

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA -- A Gwinnett County man has been convicted in what is believed to be the county's first human trafficking trial.

A jury on Thursday convicted Quantavious Lee Jackson, 24, on four counts of trafficking a person for sexual servitude.

Jackson harbored two teen girls, 15 and 16, and forced them into prostitution, physically and sexually abusing them as a form of control, evidence during the trial showed.

Evidence showed that he kept the girls, one of whom was a runaway, in various hotels in College Park, Buckhead and Gwinnett County. Law enforcement found them on November 3, 2014, in Jackson's hotel room at the Jameson Inn on Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth.

The jury viewed numerous ads for prostitution paid for and posted by Jackson on the website Backpage.

He controlled the girls by beating them and withholding food from them. He pulled one girl's hair out and burned one with a cigarette, evidence showed.

Through tears, one of the girls described how Jackson raped her at a hotel in Chamblee when she was fifteen, prosecutors said in a media release.

The jury also heard evidence that Jackson had other girls in hotel rooms throughout the Atlanta area. Jackson took all the money earned through the prostitution of the two girls.

The jury deliberated more than four hours before handing down its verdict Thursday. Sentencing will be held the week of June 27.

Jackson is facing up to two consecutive life sentences.

(Photo courtesy Gwinnett County District Attorney's Office)