A four-day online undercover investigation, “Operation Lights Out,” led by the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, resulted in the arrest of 19 people on various charges, including human trafficking.

The operation, which ran from April 24 to April 28, 2025, aimed to identify individuals who engage in sexually explicit communication with children online, arrange sex acts with the child, and then travel to meet the child for the purpose of having sex. Online child predators use social media sites, messaging apps, and websites to find children, initiate conversations, introduce sexual content, and arrange a meeting with the child for the purpose of having sex. The operation involved 12 law enforcement agencies, including local, state, and federal agencies, and involved the collaboration of 12 law enforcement agencies.

A Northeast Alabama man was one of the 19 arrested. Marco Antonio Santos Chavez, age 30, of Fort Payne, Alabama, occupation: painter; was charged with Human Trafficking and subject to an ICE Detainer.

“There were no children at harm at all in this,” said Brian Johnston, GBI Special Agent in Charge. “…except for the fact that had we not been there as law enforcement working in an undercover capacity, these very same perpetrators that were arrested would have been talking to our children in our community and they would have been talking about sexual acts and meeting up for sexual acts and exchanging pornography.”

The GBI says additional charges and arrests may follow.