TBI: Decoy ads led to 12 arrests linked with child prostitution

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — An undercover operation led by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation resulted in 11 men being arrested for seeking illicit sex from a minor and one woman was charged with promoting prostitution.

TBI’s Human Trafficking Unit, Chattanooga Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Tennessee Human Trafficking Task Force began the two-day investigation on November 10. Officers placed several decoy advertisements on websites linked to prostitution and commercial sex. They were seeking to identify those seeking to have sex with minors.

As a result, 11 men and one female were arrested and booked into the Hamilton County Jail

Willowbend Farms, a non-profit program that works with survivors of human trafficking, and the Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking also assisted with the investigation to help any victims of trafficking that were discovered during the investigation. TBI shared that one woman did accept services at Willowbend Farms.