Forty-two people were arrested in Memphis during a human trafficking operation led by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Thirty-eight men and four women were arrested on prostitution-related charges. They include a medical professional, engineers, a law student, a tow truck driver and construction workers.
Agents posted four ads on Backpage.com for about 17 hours a day over a three-day period.
The TBI says 475 different men responded to those ads, and more than 8,779 contacts were made to those through texts or phone calls.
In some ads, undercover agents posed as a juvenile girl. Eight men responded and paid to have sex with an underage female. Two of those specifically paid money to have sex with 14-year-old girls.
Two juvenile female victims of trafficking were recovered and referred to the Department of Children’s Services.