ICYMI: 2 Georgia Men Part Of 3-State Sex Trafficking Ring: Feds

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA -- Three men were arraigned recently on sex trafficking charges after federal law enforcement officials said they used Facebook to lure young girls into a high-volume, low-cost prostitution ring that required them to have sex with multiple men each night.

Siblings Brian Hernandez Acosta, 26, of Dalton and Nilageo Alvarez Acosta, 31, of Tampa, Florida, allegedly ran the enterprise with Jaime Adam Riano, 29, of Stone Mountain, according to U.S. Attorney John Horn of the North Georgia District, who announced the suspects' indictments on Wednesday. SIGN UP: To get more local news like this, click here to sign up for the Stone Mountain-Lithonia Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.

The Acosta brothers are facing multiple charges, including conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor, sex trafficking of a minor, and transportation of a minor for prostitution. They were indicted on April 11. Riano was arraigned on the same charges on April 13, Horn said.

“These men allegedly preyed on vulnerable young girls by sexually exploiting them for quick money,” Horn said in a statement. “This case highlights the danger that lurks on social media sites, where the defendants allegedly pursued some of the child victims.”

Federal prosecutors allege that beginning in November 2015 to December 2016 the trio conspired to traffic girls in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. At least five girls between the ages of 16 and 17 were entrapped by force, fraud or coercion in the mens' sex-for-money scheme, feds said.

Hernandez Acosta would pursue some of the girls on Facebook then post lurid images of them on adult entertainment websites such as Backpage.com to attract men who wanted to pay the minors for sex. The advertisments used bogus names for the girls and falsely listed their ages as 19 to 21 years old, according to Horn.

In one case the Acosta brothers allegedly forced a 16-year-old girl to have sex after driving her from Florida to Georgia and lying about her having a place to live. In another case, a high school student was driven to an Atlanta-area home to have sex with a man for $150, which was paid to Hernandez Acosta, prosecutors said.

“These federal charges are a reminder that sex trafficking of minors continues to be a very real problem and that it is not confined to urban areas. This case further illustrates how law enforcement, working together across many jurisdictions and state lines, remains responsive in addressing this heinous crime problem that will forever scar those being exploited,” said David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Atlanta Field Office.

The case is being Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as the Dalton Police Department. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Murray County Sheriff's Office is also involved in the case.

Image via Facebook / Whitfield County Jail