SAVANNAH, Ga. — Federal authorities said Thursday they have uncovered a sex trafficking network that forced women into prostitution and traded them like slaves among cities in Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas.

Eight men and four women were indicted in US District Court in Savannah. Prosecutors said they had acted since 2008 as a network of pimps who lured dozens of women to the United States from Mexico and Central America and forced them to work as prostitutes in homes, hotel rooms, and mobile home parks. Some were forced to commit up to 30 sex acts daily, officials said.