Ellis County is a county in Northeast Texas, located near the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex (DFW), and has a population of approximately 203,000 residents. Its county seat is Waxahachie, TX. Prostitution and sex trafficking are not known to be significant issues within the county but reports of their activity have been documented. Among the more serious issues associated with the commercial sex market in the county is online child sexual exploitation. For example, in the fall of 2011, an Ennis High School teacher was arrested on multiple charges of online sexual solicitation of a minor as a result of an investigation by local police. According to reports, the investigation was a result of reports from a concerned parent that the teacher was sexually solicitating his students. The former Agricultural Sciences teacher allegedly communicated with over 20 students about sending him sexually explicit pictures. The investigation began after a fellow teacher, parent, and friend of the offender reported overhearing students saying that the former teacher had asked them for inappropriate photos to the school district. After the investigation conducted by the Ennis Police Department, the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office, and the Ennis Independent School District confirmed allegations against the former teacher to be true, the offender was arrested and eventually resigned from his teaching position. In 2013, the offender plead guilty to charges of charges of online solicitation of a minor; improper relationship between educator and student; and sexual performance of a child, and was sentenced to five concurrent five-year prison terms at the Ellis County Jail.

Police have also been known to apprehend sex buyers as a result of residential complaints. For example, in 2011, an 82-year-old man was arrested in Ennis, TX (the county’s third largest city) for soliciting prostitution. According to reports, the sex buyer offered a woman  walking down the street, money in exchange for sex acts. The victim reported the incident to officials, whereupon the sex buyer was arrested, booked on a $1,000 bond, and transported to the Wayne McCollum Detention Center (Ellis County Sheriff’s Office). The offender’s identity, age, location, and charge were released to local news sources.