A 41-year-old Hermitage man is facing a trafficking charge and two weapons charges after a Davidson County grand jury handed up indictments against him earlier this month, and investigators say two people were identified as possible victims during the case. Tracy Robinson was taken into custody after being indicted and was booked into the Davidson County Jail on a $150,000 bond.
According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Davidson County grand jury returned indictments against Robinson on Oct. 6 charging him with one count of trafficking for a commercial sex act and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm. Investigators located Robinson at his Hermitage home and took him into custody before he was booked into the Davidson County Jail, the agency said.
The case was built by special agents with the TBI's Human Trafficking Unit, with assistance from the Metro Nashville Police Department's Violent Crimes Unit and Homeland Security Investigations, per the TBI. As part of the investigation, two people were identified as possible victims and were offered services through AncoraTN, a human trafficking victim service organization, the agency said. WKRN News 2 reported that case officials had not released additional details about the circumstances surrounding the charges.
TBI Stresses Charges Remain Allegations
The TBI noted in its release that the charges and allegations referenced are merely accusations of criminal conduct and not evidence, a standard caveat the agency applies to pending cases. No further details about the alleged conduct, the specifics of how the possible victims were identified, or the nature of the firearm charges have been made public by investigators.
The case adds to a steady stream of trafficking investigations the TBI has pursued across the state in recent years. The agency's Human Trafficking Unit fielded 1,375 hotline calls and tips in 2023, up sharply from 245 in 2016, according to a report cited by The Jackson Sun, with most of those 2023 contacts involving minor sex trafficking.
Pattern Seen in Other Tennessee Cases
Multi-agency trafficking investigations have surfaced elsewhere in the state. In a 2024 operation in West Tennessee, nine men — including six from Jackson — were arrested and booked into the Madison County Jail on charges of trafficking for a commercial sex act, the Jackson Sun reported. That case stemmed from a two-day undercover operation that began Aug. 29, involved people ranging in age from 21 to 53, and led investigators to encounter 12 potential victims who were connected with a victim service organization.
That West Tennessee effort drew on a coalition that included the TBI's Human Trafficking Unit, the Tennessee Human Trafficking Task Force, the 26th and 28th Judicial Drug Task Forces, and the Jackson Police Department, according to the same report. The Hermitage case similarly leaned on multiple agencies working together, reflecting how the TBI's Human Trafficking Unit routinely partners with local police and federal investigators on these cases.
