DALTON, Ga. — A Dalton man and his brother as well as a third man have been arraigned in federal court in Rome on charges of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a minor, sex trafficking of a minor and transportation of a minor for prostitution.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, Brian Hernandez Acosta of Dalton, Nilageo Alvarez Acosta of Tampa, Fla., and Jaime Adam Riano of Stone Mountain “conspired to traffic minor girls for commercial sex throughout north Georgia as well as in Florida and Tennessee. Beginning in or around November 2015, and continuing until December 2016, the defendants caused at least five girls between 16 and 17 years old to engage in prostitution, including by using force, fraud and coercion.”

The press release says Hernandez Acosta, who found some of the girls on Facebook, reportedly posted “provocative photographs” of them in the adult entertainment and escort sections of Backpage.com, a classified advertisement website, seeking men to have sex with them for money. “The advertisements used fake names for the minors and falsely listed the minors as between ages 19 and 21 years, when in fact, they were all underage,” it states.

The press release says Hernandez Acosta and his brother falsely offered one 16-year-old girl a place to live and drove her from Florida to Georgia and forced her to have sex with men. Riano often drove the girl to the places where she had sex with men, it says.

“The defendants operated a high-volume, low-cost business, requiring the young girls to have sex with multiple men each night and kept nearly all of the money they earned,” the press release states. The case was investigated by the FBI and the Dalton Police Department. Also assisting were the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Murray County Sheriff’s Office.

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

Hernandez Acosta and Alvarez Acosta were arrested by the Dalton Police Department in December 2016 and charged with pimping a person under 18 and trafficking a person for sexual servitude as well as possession of cocaine and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

“The case stems from a missing juvenile from Florida who is still missing. The case is still under investigation and we cannot release anything else at this time,” said Capt. Tom Phillips of the Dalton Police Department at that time.

“Our involvement in the case began when we were contacted by the police in Miami, Fla., regarding a missing girl they believed was in our area,” said Dalton Police Department spokesman Bruce Frazier on Wednesday. “We worked with federal authorities on that. Beyond that, I can’t say much about it.” He referred other questions to the federal authorities. He did say the missing girl was found.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

“We are thankful for the work and success of all involved in this investigation that has ended the elaborate criminal enterprise these predators operated,” said Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker in the press release. “The scope of their operation is a reminder that sex trafficking is a real danger for the young people in our communities.”