Lantana is a town of approximately 12,000 residents, located in Palm Beach County in southeast Florida. Prostitution has been a persistent and visible problem in the area for decades. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is sex trafficking.

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 deter sex buyers, the Lantana Police Department have conducted street-level reverse stings since at least 1986. Early that year, the Palm Beach Post reported that LPD officers equipped undercover officers with cameras and microphones to record evidence during stings. Such operations typically involved the use of an undercover female officer, serving as a decoy. As sex buyers solicited her for sex, they were arrested. The names and identities of the offenders were not released to the media.