Details remained sketchy Tuesday night, but Gainesville Police are investigating a report of human trafficking.
“Subject from out of state went to a local church, claimed to be a victim of trafficking,” police spokesman Kevin Holbrook said Tuesday.
The department’s Monday Daily Bulletin listed the complaint as “Human Trafficking – Commercial Sex Acts” and noted that it was filed Sunday about 9:45.
Not other information had been released by Holbrook by the end of the business day Tuesday.
According to a recent Facebook posting by the Banks County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia is one of the most extensive hubs in the United States for Human Trafficking.
About 4 out of every 100,000 people in the state are human trafficking victims. This is the 7th highest human trafficking rate in the country.
The average age of a victim entering the human trafficking market in Georgia is 12 to 14 years old. On average, 200 to 345 girls are sold or exploited every month. Additionally, nearly 100 girls are taken advantage of in Georgia every night.
According to one state agency, Georgia is “aggressively fighting human trafficking through a coalition of law enforcement, state agencies, non-profit and for-profit organizations, faith institutions and subject matter experts.”
Trafficking In Georgia | Georgia Department of Administrative Services – DOAS
The FBI has named Atlanta as one of the top fourteen cities with abnormally high rates of human trafficking.