Coryell County is a county in Central Texas, located slightly north of the State’s capitol, Austin, TX. It has a population of approximately 84,000 residents and the county seat is Gatesville, TX. Instances of prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented in the county. Among the more serious issues associated with the commercial sex market in the county is child sex trafficking. For example, in 2017, 10 men were arrested for online solicitation of a minor as a result of a Hamilton County child sex trafficking operation, where through a series of stings, officers posed as underage teenage girls on various social media platforms. Offenders believed they were chatting with 16-year-old girls online, and would then arrange meeting times, locations, and prices for sex acts. Offenders were arrested upon their arrival to the agreed location by undercover officers. Two offenders were booked and jailed at the Coryell County Jail. In 2019, the Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Units from the Texas Office of the Attorney General announced that six men were arrested in a child exploitation investigation conducted in cooperation with the Copperas Cove Police Department. The investigation focused on reducing the demand for commercial sex and sex trafficking within the county. Five offenders were charged with one count of online solicitation of a minor and one offender was charged with one count of prostitution. The identities, photos, ages, locations, and charges of the arrested offenders were released to local news sources.

In order to reduce the demand for commercial sex and sex trafficking, officials have been known to conduct street-level and web-based reverse sting operations. For example, in 2019, as a result of a prostitution and sex trafficking operation, called Operation Fallen Angel, resulted in the arrest of eight men for charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor, continuous trafficking of a person, and/or felony drug charges. According to reports, officials contacted suspected offenders by posting decoy advertisements that depicted either teenage boys or teenage girls advertising sex in exchange for money. The year-long investigation revealed that numerous women had been drugged with narcotics and transported throughout the state of Texas for sex trafficking purposes. Several agencies were involved in the operation including, the Texas State Attorney’s Office’s Human Trafficking Division, Coryell County Sheriff’s Office SWAT, the Copperas Cove Police Department SWAT, and the Gatesville Police Department. The offenders’ identities, photos, ages, locations, and charges were released to local news sources.