Georgia Man Arrested for Sex Trafficking

According to reports out of Austell in Cobb County, a man has been accused of holding a woman captive for five months in a local motel.

During that time he allegedly forced the woman to have sex with more than a dozen men for money. He also has been accused of beating and raping her multiple times.

The man is facing the following charges:

• Rape in Georgia
• Trafficking a person for sexual servitude in Georgia
• False imprisonment in Georgia
• Battery in Georgia

As a Georgia Criminal Defense Attorney, I will focus on the law behind the offense trafficking a person for sexual servitude - also known as sex trafficking.

Sex Trafficking in Georgia

Sex Trafficking in Georgia is defined by Georgia Law in O.C.G.A. §16-5-46 as:

When a person knowingly subjects another person to or maintains another person in sexual servitude or knowingly recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains by any means another for the purpose of sexual servitude. 

By law, sexual servitude includes any sexually explicit conduct or performance involving sexually explicit conduct for which anything of value is directly or indirectly given, promised to, or received by any individual, which conduct is induced or obtained:

• By coercion or deception;
• From an individual who is under the age of 18 years;
• From an individual whom the accused believes to be under the age of 18 years;
• From an individual who has a development disability; or
• From an individual from whom the accused believes to have a development disability. 

If convicted of trafficking an individual for labor or sexual servitude, a person will be guilty of a felony and will be punished by a prison term of ten to twenty years and a fine up to $100,000.00. 

Furthermore, the penalty will be escalated if the person has a developmental disability or was under the age of 18 and was coerced or deceived into being trafficked for labor or sexual servitude. Upon conviction, the accused will be guilty of a felony and will receive a fine up to $100,000.00 and a prison term between twenty-five and fifty years.

Practice Note

The crime of sex trafficking has made headlines frequently the past couple of years. However, sex trafficking is just like any other crime in the sense that people can be wrongly accused of committing the offense.

Call our offices today if you have been arrested in the state of Georgia.