Reason behind Dalton prostitution busts

DALTON, Ga. (WDEF) — In less than a month there have been two large prostitution busts in Dalton.

Police say residents showed concern about prostitution in their city. So they took notice and conducted the prostitution busts.

“In the past few months we have gotten some complaints about the fact that people were putting up ads and operating in our area,” said Bruce Frazier, with the Dalton Police Department.

But that is not all that prompted the investigations. A missing woman out of Florida was believed to be in the Dalton area and police say she might have been trafficked.

“Fortunately I think she was found in Florida. But during our investigation our officers really became aware of the fact that there were a lot more of this type of ad out there for people that were selling their wares in our area than we might have been previously aware of,” Frazier said.

Police wanted to take action.

“So we wanted to do some more investigation into that and we certainly found no shortage of Johns that were willing to come to Dalton for this type of activity,” Frazier said.

Officials say human trafficking is a problem everywhere.

“I’m not sure if it is becoming a bigger issue so much as it is that it has been a big issue and people are maybe becoming more aware of it now. Or the internet has certainly made it more prevalent or easier to have access to.”

And they want to help put a stop to this.

“Especially with someone that identifies themselves as a 19-year-old prostitute. When you are talking about someone that is that young in that business you very rarely are talking about someone who is there voluntarily.”

The most recent bust resulted in the arrests of seven men. In the first bust eight people were arrested.