Newnan is a city of about 43,000 located in Metro Atlanta and the county seat of Coweta County, Georgia, approximately 40 miles southwest of Atlanta. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of Coweta County. For example, in February 2017, seven people were arrested in a local prostitution sting. The joint operation of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Homeland Security began on Jan. 31 and ended on Feb. 1. Agents contacted females who posted personal ads on adult websites, and the sting occurred at a hotel on Bullsboro Drive. An undercover agent would agree on a price and services; four women were arrested for prostitution and three other people were charged with pimping or being a party to a crime. The primary goal of the operation was to curtail sex trafficking in the area. All information gathered during the sting was passed along to the Department of Homeland Security, which continued the investigation. The suspects arrested during the sting faced charges including prostitution, possession of cocaine, pimping, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, and diving while license suspended.

Prostitution activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. For example, in June 2019, ten people were arrested in a prostitution sting at a Newnan hotel.  The Coweta County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security investigators arrested three men who were charged with being “party to a crime of prostiution.”  Their identities were publicly released.