Jackson County is a county of about 158,000 residents in southern Michigan, approximately 40 miles west of Ann Arbor. Its county seat is Jackson. Prostitution and sex trafficking, including child sex trafficking, have been documented in the county, resulting in complaints from residents. For example, in 2014 a Jackson man was convicted of sex trafficking several women and one minor after using physical violence, fear, and crack cocaine to manipulate and control them. One of the victims was 16-years-old when she was beaten and trafficked by the man.

Employment loss is a consequence of sex buying that has occurred in the county, even without an arrest. In September 2014, the managing director of the Jackson and Calhoun County Road Departments resigned after allegations of soliciting prostitution. He was stopped by Albion police between 3 and 4 a.m. because he was “acting suspiciously,” and a person in the passenger seat fled the vehicle and ran into an apartment. The man was not arrested, but was investigated for possible possession of crack cocaine and solicitation of a prostitute. The man said he was just trying to give a homeless person a ride, but police reports revealed he and a passenger pulled up to a house that was being staked out because it was known for drugs and prostitution. The man in the passenger seat said he was helping the former managing director find a “girl and some dope.” When they left the house, the man took oe pubut $200 from an ATM and admitted to paying $80 to his passenger to “buy a hooker.” Albion Public Safety officials reported finding two rocks of cocaine in his car. Thlic safety department forwarded a report on its findings to the Calhoun County Prosecutor’s Office and the man faced possible criminal charges. The man’s identity was released in news reports. He had led both the Calhoun and Jackson Counties’ road operations since July 2013, but was considered an employee of Jackson County. After meeting with the administrator of Jackson County, the Jackson County Administrator said “it was a mutual decision that it would be best for him to resign immediately.”

Identity disclosure is another demand tactic that has been used to discourage sex buying in the county. In March 2016, an Ingham County Prosecutor was arraigned on multiple charges related to prostitution patronage in Jackson County District Court after his arrest in Lansing. The man had served as Ingham County’s Prosecutor for two decades, and appeared in Jackson County District Court because judges in Ingham County recused themselves from hearing the case. He was charged with one count of prostitution/pandering, 10 counts of engaging in the services of prostitution, and four counts of willful neglect of duty. The investigation began after the man was discovered to have been a sex buyer in a 2015 sex trafficking ring. He was accused of paying for sex “hundreds of times” from 2010 to 2015, and also “induced” a woman into prostitution by abusing his position. His identity was released in news reports. In August he pleaded guilty to one felony count of misconduct in office and one count of soliciting a prostitute in exchange for the other 13 charges being dropped.