Rome is a city of approximately 37,000 residents, located in northwest Georgia’s Floyd County. Prostitution and child sex trafficking have been reported in the city for several decades, generating complaints from residents and business owners. In the early 1970s, for example, Rome was discovered to be the operating base for at least two distinct prostitution networks, both of which recruited and compelled minors into prostitution in the city and surrounding areas. In July, 2008, the Calhoun Special Operations division announce they busted a prostitution ring masquerading as a massage therapy business in Rome. Police say it was the second time that location had been targeted in the prior six months for violating prostitution laws. In August, 2014, an undercover prostitution sting in Rome resulted in ten arrests. The sting took place at a motel on Tuner-McCall Boulevard in Rome.  Two individuals were charged with a pimping and one also with a probation violation. Four women were charged with prostitution. Other charges included Possession of Methamphetamine, possession of a Firearm during the Commission of a Crime, and Aggravated Assault and with Possession of a Firearm during the Commission of a Crime. The community has reported additional cases of prostitution-related violence, such as an event in 1999 in which one man was shot and another “pistol whipped” in the head in an altercation in a local brothel. Ancillary crimes endemic to the sex trade such as drug offenses and fraud have also occurred in the city.

In an effort to curtail commercial sex activity, the Rome Police Department and Floyd County Police Department have occasionally targeted sex buyers for arrest. In September 1997, RPD officers apprehended six johns during a sting operation along Blanche Avenue after the department received complaints from residents. All of the men’s names were released to the public.

In August 2014, the FCPD launched an anti-prostitution investigation in coordination with the Rome Parole Office. According to media reports, “parole officers called [the FCPD] when they found information related to prostitution” during a “routine check.” Floyd County Police then set up a sting at a local motel, wherein they “made calls” to both women suspected of prostitution and male sex buyers.  Two men were charged with pandering, or soliciting prostitution, and their identities were included in news reports.