State lawmakers have approved funding for three positions to fight human trafficking in the Augusta region.
Included in the state FY-2026 budget finalized last week is approximately $375,000 for the positions. They include one human trafficking prosecutor and two investigators who are based in the Augusta area, a spokesperson for Attorney General Chris Carr’s office said.
Human trafficking comes in three forms: domestic minor sex trafficking, adult sex trafficking and labor trafficking. It involves the act of recruiting, transporting or harboring individuals for the purpose of exploitation, which includes sexual exploitation and forced labor.
The expansion is modeled after the attorney general’s gang prosecution unit, spokesperson Kara Murray said. The Augusta-based gang unit’s prosecutors and area law enforcement last year announced the indictment of some 30 alleged members of the Trapmoney gang on a combined 333 counts.
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Created in 2019 with the support of Gov. Brian Kemp and First Lady Marty Kemp, Carr’s human trafficking prosecution unit has secured more than 50 convictions in other areas of the state, according to the AG’s office.
“We have created an environment in Georgia where traffickers live in fear and victims know that help is on the way,” Carr said.
The convictions included an Atlanta hotel clerk involved in trafficking an underage female and five Albany, Ga., gang members involved in child sex trafficking. More recently, three individuals were indicted in Houston County for trafficking a 13-year-old.
Carr told the Conservative Political Action Conference or CPAC in February that 80% of human trafficking is gang-affiliated.
An Augusta organization that provides care for victims emerging from sex trafficking, the GLM2 Foundation, told The Augusta Press it’s a misconception to think human trafficking only happens in Augusta during Masters Week.
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But large sporting events, such as the Masters Tournament, bring the numbers that attract sex traffickers and their victims, said Kimberly McDonald-Walden, who runs GLM2.
“The number one buyer of sex on the planet is the white American male,” said McDonald-Walden.
