ATLANTA — Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced Friday that two people convicted in a human trafficking case brought by a specialized unit within his office will go to prison for 20 and 30 years.
The case was the first brought by the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, which was formed in 2019.
“I am pleased with the sentences handed down in this historic case, but we will not stop here,” Attorney General Carr said in a statement. “I stated when the Human Trafficking Unit was starting that we will work every single day with all of our law enforcement partners to protect our state’s most vulnerable and put buyers and traffickers behind bars. This is justice for the victims, a great result for Georgia and our Human Trafficking Unit.”
The guilty verdict had been returned in a Cobb County trial at the end of September against the two individuals, who had each faced two counts of "trafficking of persons for sexual servitude."
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They were accused of taking a 16-year-old girl to a Cobb County hotel to have her "perform sex acts with a man who they had been communicating with over an online chat application."
The man they were messaging with, however, was an undercover Cobb County officer who was working with an FBI task force.
The 16-year-old girl was recovered at the hotel, while the two who transported her there were found at a nearby gas station. They claimed they were only giving her a ride and had no knowledge of any arrangement for sexual services.
“This result shows the State of Georgia’s commitment to protect children from exploitation,” Carr said in a statement. “This is a historic win for Georgia and we are sending a message to buyers and traffickers that you will be stopped and held accountable for these wicked acts.”