Millersville is a city that occupies parts of both Robertson and Sumner counties, located about 10 miles north of Nashville, Tennessee. The population is about 6,000 residents. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of both counties. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates result in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses.

Consumer-level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. To identify and apprehend local sex buyers driving the prostitution and sex trafficking markets, local law enforcement agencies have conducted reverse stings. For example, in October 2017, a former Vice Chair of the Millersville Planning Commission was arrested and charged with six counts of “patronizing prostitution” or soliciting a prostitute. The man was discharged from his position after his arrest. In November 2018, Millersville police conducted a reverse sting in which 11 men responded to a “decoy” online ad, and were cited for solicitation of prostitution when they attempted to buy sex from female undercover officers. The identities of the men caught in the sting were included in news releases.

One of those arrested was a 49-year-old doctor who reportedly traveled to Millersville to meet with a woman in prostitution he found online. The agreed upon price was $200 for sex, and the suspect didn’t realize that the prostituted woman was really an undercover police officer. The doctor had previously been arrested for trading prescriptions for sex. In the spring of 2017, agents with the 18th Judicial Drug Task Force arrested the man and charged him with five counts of issuing prescriptions for narcotics outside the scope of medical practice. The suspect was caught on tape allegedly writing prescriptions for drugs in exchange for money and sex. Prior to his arrest, the defendant was a reserve police officer working as the team medic for the Sumner County S.W.A.T. team, ran a karate studio, and was working as a doctor in Williamson County. The man was released from jail on a $500,000 bond, and the D.E.A revoked his license to write prescriptions.