Salisbury is a city of approximately 34,000 residents, located in central North Carolina’s Rowan County situated along the 1-85 corridor. Prostitution and the sex trafficking of minors have been reported in the area, and members of the community have complained to law enforcement about prostitution-related activities. On at least one occasion, a prostituted person was shot during an encounter. For example, in January 2018, three people were arrested following a prostitution encounter in Salisbury that led to a shooting. According to Rowan County Sheriff’s Office, a Backpage sex ad led to an alleged prostitution hookup in Salisbury. The encounter led to one adult shooting the prostituted adult in the leg, leading to hospitalization. The first individual was charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, felony discharging a weapon into an occupied dwelling, and solicitation of prostitution. The second was charged with prostitution, and the third was charged with promotion of prostitution for profit.

In an effort to reduce demand for commercial sex, the Salisbury Police Department (SPD) has conducted reverse stings since at least 2005. For example, in June 2014, the SPD conducted a small street-level reversal in the city following complaints from residents in the Fulton Heights, Mitchell, and Maupin Avenue areas. After several individuals in the neighborhood reported that a man “had been approaching women from the ages of 12 to 74 offering to pay them for sex,” the Salisbury Police Department deployed two undercover female officers to the area. When the sex buyer approached one of the decoys and offered her $30 for sex, he was arrested by police. His name, age, address, and arrest photo were publicized in local media outlets.

Some arrests of sex buyers are the result of ad hoc opportunities that arise while police are engaged in other parol or enforcement activities. For example, in February 2021, a Salisbury man was arrested during a traffic stop and was later charged with soliciting prostitution in addition to traffic citations. The woman with him was charged with conspiring to commit prostitution and resisting, obstructing or delaying an officer in addition to two counts of failing to appear in court. The pair had been stopped by a Rowan County deputy initially because of an expired license plate, an inspection violation, and an inactive license. The pair allegedly provided differing stories to deputies about where they were going. Upon further discussion, the man eventually admitted he had picked the woman up for the purpose of buying sex from her.