Marion County authorities arrested two men after an undercover operation sought out individuals they believed may be involved in human trafficking.
Bryan Lawson, 36, and Jeremiah Masters, 27 years old, were arrested, according to a press release from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) on Tuesday.
Marion County authorities detained the two individuals on charges of sexually exploiting a juvenile victim.
The Human Trafficking Unit of the TBI, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, and the 12th Judicial District Drug Task Force collaborated for two days to conduct the sting operation, which started on August 7.
The press release states that in order to find individuals interested in engaging in prostitution or commercial sex with children, detectives utilized decoy ads on websites associated with these activities.
Human trafficking victim identification was another primary goal of the operation. Two persons voluntarily sought help from a human trafficking victim advocacy group as a direct consequence of this initiative, the study states.
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