Georgia politician one of 19 arrested in human trafficking operation
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- Georgia politician Carl Sprayberry, 32, arrested in human trafficking operation; denied bond, case bound to superior court.
- 19 people arrested in Operation Lights Out; investigation targeted child exploitation and online grooming across multiple platforms.
CNAW2News has confirmed a Georgia politician, now a chef, was one of the nineteen people arrested in a state and local agency investigation and operation.
Image: Muscogee County Jail
32-year-old Carl Sprayberry was arrested by officials during a 4-day operation titled Operation Lights Out conducted by Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia Bureau of Investigations, and Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Image: CNAW2News
Sprayberry was charged with human trafficking and booked into the Muscogee County Jail on April 26, 2025, just after midnight. He appeared in recorder’s court on April 28th, was not given bond, and his case been bound over to superior court.
Sprayberry has had a 4-year political career, which began in 2020 when he entered the race for the seat of State House District 139. He also ran in 2022 for a council seat in Columbus, and returned back to the campaign in 2024 for the seat of State House District 139.
During his run for State House, Sprayberry ran on the ideas of wanting to expand Medicare in Georgia, expand renewable energy in the state, and providing economic relief to people and businesses during the height of the COVID pandemic, and focusing on further reducing crime rates in the state through improved, smarter policing and working with communities to improve economic opportunities that have proven successful in other jurisdictions at reducing gang involvement. When he ran for the council seat in 2022, he planned to target the gang violence which had grown rampant from 2018.
Sprayberry lost all three races, and in the meantime was employed at local restaurants, including as full-time chef at an “upscale restaurant in downtown Columbus”, according to his political website.
Sprayberry’s Facebook and Twitter/X accounts have been suspended. As previously reported, Sprayberry is one of nineteen people who were arrested during a ‘child predator’ and human trafficking operation and investigation.
Image: Georgia Bureau of Investigations
Investigators reported that in some cases, individuals introduced obscene content, often exposing what they believed to be a child to pornography or asking the child to create and send sexual images. About half of these interactions occurred on dating, socializing, or classified ad websites. They noted that even sites labeled as “adults only” can be accessed by children who create profiles claiming to be older, making them vulnerable to harassment or assault. Some perpetrators were found to be communicating with multiple investigators posing as minors, indicating that many predators actively seek out children online to groom them for sexual contact.
Anyone with information about these cases or other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit at 404-270-8870 or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS(8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.
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