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, the Woodlands Police Department and the MCSO have conducted reverse stings.  From October 15th to October 30th, 2018, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office led a collaborative effort to conduct a comprehensive prostitution and human trafficking sting. Detectives and agents from multiple agencies along with Non- Government Organizations (NGOs) worked in an undercover capacity posing as both “Johns” and “Prostitutes.” The latter was designed to identify those seeking to purchase sex from adults or juveniles, and 21 sex buyers were arrested in the Woodlands area (in addition to the arrest of  11 pimps and 28 prostituted women). Suspects faced a variety of charges, including prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, possession of a controlled substance, weapons and narcotics. “Operation Cross County” was designed to proactively address prostitution and human trafficking activity in the communities and surrounding areas of the county.  Police services in Woodland are provided through the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office (The Woodlands Police / South County Sheriff’s Office), and collaborating with them on this operation were the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, Houston Police Department, Conroe Police Department, Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Attorney General’s Office, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. State Department.

Loss of employment is another consequence of buying sex that has occurred within the community. For example, in July, 2017, a senior pastor at The Woodlands First Baptist Church was arrested in a reverse sting in Harris County, where he allegedly attempted to pay an undercover police officer for sex.  Soon afterward, the church  received and accepted the man’s resignation. The 52-year-old had been a pastor at The Woodlands First Baptist Church since 2012.