Police: Woman charged with sex trafficking teens in Alabama
Marlette Lychelle Smith (Jefferson County Sheriff's Office)
HOMEWOOD, Ala. - A Georgia woman was arrested and accused of bringing two teenage girls to Alabama to sex traffic them, authorities said Tuesday. The teens were found and brought to an advocacy agency.
Marlette Lychelle Smith, 26, of Rome, Georgia, was charged with first-degree human trafficking on June 13, police in Homewood, Alabama, told news outlets Tuesday. Homewood is a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama’s biggest city.
Homewood police Sgt. John Carr said authorities learned that two teenage girls from California, ages 15 and 16, were possible victims of human sex trafficking. Carr said officers went to a hotel where they found the teens.
Investigations determined the girls had been trafficked from Memphis to Atlanta and then to Homewood, according to Carr. Police said they identified Smith as a suspect and a warrant was issued for her arrest on June 12.
Smith was being held at the Jefferson County Jail on a $1 million bond. Further details about the case weren’t immediately released.
It wasn’t known if Smith had an attorney who could comment for her.