South Fulton is a city in Fulton County, GA, in the Atlanta metropolitan area. It was incorporated in 2017 from parts of southwest Fulton County and has a population of roughly 108,000 residents. Since its incorporation in 2017, prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented by city officials. In May 2020, an investigation—originally in search of the suspects of a stolen U-Haul—resulted in the rescue of three sex trafficking victims. While searching an abandoned house for the suspects, South Fulton police discovered two females inside the house, who were later identified as sex trafficking victims. According to investigators, the victims were held against their will inside the abandoned house and frequently taken to be sexually exploited by men at a motel on Old National Highway, in addition to other locations within south Fulton County. As a result of the investigation, officers rescued a third victim and arrested a second man involved in the sex trafficking operation. The arrested men faced several charges, including human trafficking, pimping, child pornography, aggravated sexual battery, and rape. The sex trafficker arrested later in the month during the rescue of the third victim faced charges of aggravated sexual battery, enticing a child, statutory rape, child pornography, child molestation, aggravated sodomy, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

In February of 2021, an additional sex trafficking investigation was conducted by South Fulton police after a 16-year-old girl escaped from a sex trafficker. The victim reportedly told investigators that a man had used social media to lure her into the sex trafficking operation in Fulton County. Police arrested the alleged sex trafficker on charges of aggravated battery, strangulation, rape, and cruelty to a child. Investigators believe there to be additional victims. The South Fulton Police Captain said, “Sex trafficking, human trafficking, and kidnapping, it’s your neighbor next door that just turned 19; they are people you went to school with that you would never think are involved in these behaviors.” Authorities are now encouraging parents to stay aware:  It’s not the white van anymore, it’s Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook.

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 of 2021, 16 men were arrested in an undercover prostitution sting by the South Fulton Police Department. The sting was meant to combat prostitution and sex trafficking along the Fulton Industrial Boulevard corridor and Interstate 20, one of the most notorious corridors of prostitution and drugs in Georgia. South Fulton had incorporated Fulton Industrial Boulevard into the city and taken over police services from the Fulton County Police Department earlier that month. South Fulton police set up a sting operation with undercover officers posing as prostituted persons and made 16 arrests in only a few hours. The arrested sex buyers ranged in age from 18 to 79 years, with nearly all arrested offenders residing outside South Fulton. The 16 sex buyers were charged with either pandering or solicitation of prostitution. The identities, ages, charges, and hometowns of arrested offenders were released to the press. A spokesperson for the South Fulton Police Department stated that this operation was “the first of many” and that officials had pledged additional resources to crack down on crime. In August 2021, another operation produced an additional 12 arrests.

In November 2021, 10 men were arrested on misdemeanor prostitution charges during an undercover prostitution sting in South Fulton. A South Fulton police investigator posed undercover as a prostitution decoy near Fulton Industrial Boulevard. One arrested man was later identified as an inspector with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. His identity was not immediately released.