COLUMBUS, Ga. ( WRBL ) — The State of Georgia’s top sex trafficking prosecutor was in Columbus this afternoon speaking to the local bar association.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Hannah Palmquist talked about what the office was doing to combat human trafficking.
This is a relatively new operation created by an act of the General Assembly in 2019. The prosecution unit has secured 50 convictions statewide and recovered or assisted more than 100 victims of sex trafficking each year.
Palmquist outlined what her unit is doing and how it is prosecuting cases across the state.
She had an attentive audience with local attorneys, prosecutors and judges in the room.
She offered a simple definition of Human trafficking under Georgia law. She used the example of teenager leaving a group home after being contacted by someone online.
“And the kid runs away. That’s recruiting,” Palmquist said. “If the intent was to sell them for sex. But let’s say he has his friend go pick up that 14-year-old and the friend knows why he’s picking her up. That’s human trafficking. Another guy puts ads of that child online. That’s human trafficking because it’s advertising. The hotel clerk assists with putting brooms in the back of the hotel, knowing that it’s for selling a child for sex. That’s human trafficking. Someone comes and buys that person who’s under 18 for commercial sex. That’s human trafficking.”