A two-time Democratic candidate for the Georgia State House was arrested in connection with a sting operation targeting sexual predators and charged with human trafficking, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said on Wednesday. 

Carl Sprayberry, a 32-year-old from Columbus, Georgia, previously ran for separate Georgia House seats currently held by Republicans, District 134 in 2020 and District 139 in 2024. He lost both races. 

The goal of the operation, dubbed “Operation Lights Out,” was to “identify persons who engage in sexually explicit communication with children on the Internet, arrange to engage in a sex act with the child, and then travel to meet the child for the purpose of having sex,” the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said. The bureau worked in tandem with the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Muscogee County Sheriff's Office on the operation. 

Sprayberry and 18 other suspects were arrested by the Muscogee Sheriff in connection with the operation and charged with various crimes ranging from human trafficking to child pornography crimes. 

During the operation, undercover investigators posing as children engaged in “numerous exchanges with persons on various social media and Internet platforms.” In the 19 cases where law enforcement moved forward with the arrests, the suspects had attempted to meet in person the undercover investigator posing as a child. 

“I want to make a plea with parents to closely monitor your children to ensure they are not communicating with these individuals,” said Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman. “These predators will travel from near and far to victimize your children. We take these crimes against children very seriously. It will be our focus to find these predators so they may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

According to his campaign website, Sprayberry is a Columbus, Georgia, native and has lived in the community his “entire life.” In 2020, he won the Democratic primary to run against Republican incumbent, the late State Representative Richard Smith, but subsequently lost the general election. 

“He ran on 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,” the website reads. 

Sprayberry unsuccessfully ran again in 2024 against State Representative Carmen Rice, a Republican.