WXIA-TV in Atlanta reports:
Investigators said Friday [that] 40 people have now been arrested for sex trafficking in the metro Atlanta area as part of crackdown during Super Bowl week.
Homeland Security spokesperson Brian Cox said that seven more arrests had been made since a news conference two days earlier. Four people have been recovered: two adults and two juveniles, Cox said.
Atlanta is considered one of the biggest hubs of sex trafficking nationwide. And the illegal business is prominent during major sporting events, according to research.
With the Super Bowl in town, DHS is leading the human trafficking investigation and on the lookout to help recover more people affected by the crime.
Organizations are also stepping in to fight back against sex trafficking. Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution spent the weekend passing out fliers with the names and photos of 16 girls that are missing.
“Atlanta is one of the top cities for sex trafficking of children in the United States,” the group’s website said. “With the Super Bowl coming in February 2019, we need your help to rescue these missing kids.”
Since the fliers went up, an 18-year-old Flowery Branch man has been charged in connection with the disappearance of one of the girls seen in the S.O.A.P. sex trafficking poster at hotels around metro Atlanta.
Read on; visit SOAP Project’s website.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
