A traffic stop in the north Georgia mountains leads to a human trafficking arrest with ties to metro Atlanta.

Ellijay Police Chief Edward Lacey says 26-year-old Cordarrel William Blandburg was pulled over at 1am on Old Highway 5 and Bobcat Trail for failure to dim his bright lights and having no working tag light. He told the officer he was taking a woman in the car to the hospital for a possible seizure.

“He originally claimed the passenger was his fiancée , but it ended up being that he was actually holding her as his property for sexual servitude,” Lacey tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.

The officer learned Blandburg was not only driving without a license but had active warrants out of Clayton County for aggravated assault and obstruction of a police officer.

Lacey says Blandburg had intentions of setting up a sex trafficking operation in Ellijay which were thwarted by the traffic stop. It’s believed to be the first human trafficking arrest in Gilmer County.

“Usually its those small traffic violations that lead us to catch burglars and robbers and people such as this individual,” he says.

The Ellijay Police Department is working with both Clayton and Hall Counties already investigating Blandburg for similar activity in those jurisdictions. The GBI and Homeland Security have also been called in to assist.

Blandburg is currently held in the Gilmer County Detention Center on $17,000 bond.

Lacey says it is possible more arrests will be made related to the case.