‘Pure shock’: Human trafficking case horrifies Grovetown neighbors

***WARNING: The following details are graphic, and may be considered disturbing for some readers.***

GROVETOWN, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - After a human trafficking victim frantically entered the Grovetown police station, investigators have arrested a man accused of keeping her for months across the state, according to authorities.

Neighbors are shocked at what police say was happening right under their noses.

On Tuesday around 3 p.m., a 31-year-old woman frantically entered the lobby of the Grovetown police station and said she was a victim of human trafficking and had been held against her will for several months.

She said she’d been taken to various cities across the state, where she was forced into prostitution.

Joe Lewis Hills Jr., 36, was arrested.

It all leaves the neighbors of a home on Grove Landing with many questions.

“Pure shock - disbelief - I’m like, here?” said Antoinette Clark, who lives in the neighborhood.

“This is right here at home. This is at home in our neighborhood, right across the street, so is it really safe?” she said.

“I know it happens all over the world. I know it’s a big deal in Augusta, but right here in Grovetown, in this little neighborhood, which is a big little neighborhood, I’m sure there’s over easily 600 homes in this neighborhood.”

Clark, a mom, has lived in the neighborhood for more than six years.

It’s a neighborhood she says is “quiet, very child-oriented, a lot of teens. There’s a middle school across the street.”

And when school is out in the summer, “everybody’s at the pool. Kids are home, probably latchkey, parents at work, but they’re safe. You know, they walk the neighborhood by themselves. You don’t see anything going on. And it’s a military neighborhood.”

The victim she’d been held against her will for the past two weeks and that she was brought to Grovetown by the suspect, Joe Lewis Hills, Jr. 36 years old.

The suspect originally picked her up in Macon, before taking her to Savannah, and then finally to Grovetown, officials say.

TRACKING THE PROBLEM:

• Human trafficking has been reported in 145 of Georgia’s 159 counties, and the victims tend to be young – between 14 and 15.
• In April, Gov. Brian Kemp signed three bills into law: One requires businesses like convenience stores, hospitals, tattoo shops and massage parlors to post the human trafficking hot-line number. Another allows the courts to wipe convictions from survivors’ records or crimes committed while they were victimized. And the third creates a new felony charge for grooming a minor. That’s when a person builds a relationship with a young person to prepare them for abuse.
• Atlanta is one of the top spots in the nation for human trafficking, but numbers show it’s a big problem in South Carolina too, especially in places near Myrtle Beach and Charleston, where there are a lot of tourists. But the state attorney general says Aiken County ranks fourth in the entire state – even ahead of the Columbia area.

According to authorities, the victim stated that since she has been in Grovetown, Hills has repeatedly abused her physically, including choking her to the point of unconsciousness, while also threatening her with bodily harm if she did not continue to work as a prostitute, both in the home and away from it.

The victim also revealed that she had been “branded” on her body.

The victim said she advised Hills that she had a “john” to go to meet and then summoned a ride-sharing service. Once the ride picked her up, she directed them to bring her to the Grovetown police station.

Utilizing license tag reader technology, investigators were able to the victim’s timeline and travels with Hills from Macon to Savannah, to Grovetown as she had relayed them.

Investigators then ed the local FBI field office which dispatched an agent assigned to human trafficking to assist. With the details that were provided by the victim, the agent was able to back up her claims while indicating that this is part of a larger human trafficking organization with ties around the state.

While the victim was speaking with investigators, Hills repeatedly called and messaged her phone, police said. The victim was subsequently taken to a hospital for examination.

Police arrested Hills just before 6 p.m. after he left the home.

Police said a search warrant found evidence to the victim’s claims, along with narcotics including methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana, plus two guns.

A record check of Hills revealed that he is currently on federal probation for two previous bank robberies.

Hills was charged with trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, possession of cocaine, possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to jail records.

Anyone with information on this case or any human trafficking is urged to the Grovetown Police Department at 706-863-1212.

If you or anyone on your screen needs help, call the human trafficking hotline, 888-373-7888 or text INFO to 233-733.

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