Peach County is located within the Macon metropolitan area of Georgia.  Its Government seat is the city of Fort Valley, and its population is approximately 28,000.  A wide range of problems and ancillary crimes associated with prostitution and sex trafficking have been documented in the county, and generate complaints to police from residents and businesses.  In May 2018, allegations surfaced about a prostitution ring based at Fort Valley State University, allegedly involving a sorority, school administrators, and politicians. A graduate adviser for the Alpha Beta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., at Fort Valley State University, resigned after the Peach County Sheriff’s Office and school officials launched an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations, including accusations that she instructed pledges to have sex for money with local politicians and businessmen to cover costly induction fees, and took scholarship money that was awarded to a student.

In October 2018, seven people (including two former employees of Fort Valley State University) were arrested and charged with various sex crimes (pandering and solicitation of sodomy) after an extended investigation into illegal conduct at the university occurring in 2017 and 2018. Four of the sex men were customers of a campus-based prostitution ring, and an additional arrest was made of a woman charged with six counts of pimping and financial crimes.  The identities of the men were publicly released, and each was charged with pandering and solicitation of sodomy. All but one of the men turned themselves in, according to Peach County Sheriff’s Office officials.  One of the men was a suspect in a prior case of child rape, having been accused of assaulting a minor at a youth facility in Taylor County. At the time, the teen, who was in foster care, was assigned to the state-contracted facility by the Division of Family and Children Services, and the suspect served as a human services professional. In November, 2019, it was announced that at least two of the six men had reached agreements with prosecutors for a pre-trial diversion as first-time offenders, which involved completing 25 hours of community service, and attending a class about the dangers of prostitution and paying a fine of between $250 and $1,000.  Prosecutors dropped charges after completion of program requirements.  No other details were reported about the location or content of the classes.

Loss of employment is another consequence of buying sex that has occurred within the county. For example, in October, 2018, investigators uncovered a sex ring involving top members of Fort Valley State University in Peach County, where at least three people named in the arrest warrants were employees. Six men were charged with soliciting prostituted persons and sodomy. Before being fired in September, one man had served as Director of Corporate and Government Affairs at Fort Valley. His university bio said he also previously served as FVSU’s Director of the Public Service Center, Chief Legal Officer and Director of Government Relations. He’d been with the school since 2011.