www.douglascountysentinel.com
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Steven
Lemery, left, and his attorney Tracey D. Gibson go over information as
testimony in his human trafficking trial Wednesday in Douglas County
Superior Court. (Mitch Sneed / Douglas County Sentinel)
Lemery, 38, is on trial before Douglas County Superior Court Judge David Emerson, charged with six counts of human trafficking, three counts of aggravated child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes and pandering by compulsion.
Testimony alleged that Lemery found teens and lured them to live in his home and pointed to how Lemery sought information from his other boarders on how to make money by marketing homosexual sex on the Internet and how he eventually pushed teens to sell themselves as well.
The testimony was particularly damaging to Lemery's defense.
A young man who was a Carrollton 15-year-old when he met Lemery, said that he had sexual relations withing a week of meeting the man who had told him he was much younger. The age of the victim is key for the prosecution in the charges of aggravated child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes, as the age of 15 is under Georgia's age of consent which is 16.
Defense attorney Tracy D. Gibson tried to paint doubt about the age when the encounters started with the questions to the teen who often had trouble with dates. She also questioned whether Lemery knew his age. The victim said that he was 15 when it started and that Lemery knew it.
That teen said at the time he thought he loved Lemery and that Lemery had told him that he was in love with the boy as well. In court, he said those feeling were no longer there after a split over Lemery's desire to have multiple partners.
"I was like ... it's over and I was done with him and I never wanted to have anything to do with him again," the teen said. "I couldn't stand him and I don't even want to be here today."
A young man who said that Lemery met him on Facebook then drove his convertible Mustang to South Carolina to pick him up and moved the teen into his home at a time when he had no where else to go. He said that within three months, Lemery asked the victim to start prostituting to help pay for bail money. The South Carolina teen said Lemery took money that victim got after Lemery had taken him to perform sexual acts with another man.
That victim said he often made fake ads so that no one would respond and that he only wanted to go home, but didn't have any way of getting there. He said Lemery used the money for clothes and alcohol, never saw it used for bail.
Lemery, who was a male stripper who danced under the name Steven Lang at B.J. Rooster’s on Atlanta’s Cheshire Bridge Road, and witnesses said he portrayed himself as a much younger man before bringing them to his home on Long Lake Drive.
Testimony pointed to wild parties at the house, complete with alcohol for those of all ages, drugs and even a photographer on hand to capture the escapades at times.
Testimony is expected to resume this morning at 9 a.m. The prosecution could wrap up its presentation today, making way for Lemery's defense. It was unknown whether there are plans for Lemery to take the stand in his own defense.
A transgender adult entertainer Christopher Andrew Lynch was also accused in this case. Accusations are that the victims were forced by Lemery and Lynch to have sex with men for money.
Lynch, who performed in Atlanta drag shows under the name Pasha Nicole, received a 30-year sentence earlier this year after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, pimping a victim under the age of 18 and pandering by compulsion. He will serve the first 14 years of the sentence in prison.
Read more: Douglas County Sentinel - Middle school boyfriend teen turned protitute testify in human trafficking trial
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