An undercover human trafficking sting operation ended with the arrest of 14 people in the Chattanooga area.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Aug. 26 the results of the two-day operation.
“The focus of the operation was to identify individuals seeking to engage in sex acts with minors and to recover victims of human trafficking,” the bureau said in a statement.
Three men — one from Clearwater, Florida; one from Cleveland, Tennessee; and another from Chattanooga — were arrested Aug. 19 in the Cleveland area on charges of patronizing prostitution, the Bureau said.
On Aug. 21, “acting on developing opportunities, the multiple agencies involved in the operation quickly pivoted and spun up a second undercover sting in Collegedale,” the bureau said.
Eleven more people were arrested. All were charged with patronizing prositution while eight people were charged with solicitaion of a minor. Three people were also charged with possession of drugs.
The majority of those arrested Aug. 21 were from Chattanooga, the bureau said, but one person was from Houston, Texas, another was from Ooltewah, Tennessee and a third was from Ringold, Georgia.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee human trafficking operation yields 14 arrests, TBI says
