Eatonton is a city of fewer than 10,000 residents, located in north-central Georgia’s Putnam County.

Prostitution activity has been well-documented in the city, surrounding communities, and other areas of the county. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates result in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is child sex trafficking. For example, in January 2015, local media outlets reported the arrests of 11 men and one 14-year-old girl on charges related to paid sexual abuse. According to reports, in November 2014, an Eatonton Police Department officer on patrol came upon the 14-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man in a car within the city’s limits. After the girl was “remanded to officials with the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice” and the man who paid to abuse her was arrested, Eatonton Police launched an investigation in partnership with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, wherein they reviewed texts and other phone correspondence between the young girl and several men. After reviewing these materials, they “concluded that the teen was not working for a pimp or any other person” but had “offered sexual favors to various men for money.” Using this evidence, law enforcement agencies arrested 11 men from seven different counties. The majority were charged with child molestation, child enticement, and/or statutory rape. The men’s names, ages, hometowns, and arrest photos were released to the public.

In early February 2015, the Putnam County District Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss the prostitution charge initially leveled against the 14-year-old girl– on the condition that she complete a treatment and counseling program– because she was “a victim of the crime herself” and had been sexually exploited by men who purchased sex from her. The DA also reported that they had requested the assistance of the Georgia Attorney General’s Office’s Human Trafficking Unit to help prosecute the sex buyer cases.