Adams County is a county of approximately 66,000 residents in western Illinois. Its largest city and county seat is Quincy, IL. Adams County is part of the Quincy, IL–MO Micropolitan Statistical Area. Instances of prostitution have occurred in the county for over a century. In 1918, the city of Quincy announced it would be closing its red-light district due to the passage of the “Mann Act” (White Slave Traffic Act) in accordance with new state and federal laws. Although this concluded the city’s 60 year span of permitting commercial sex within the red-light district, prostitution and sex trafficking problems remained present in the city and greater county areas. More recently, the county has experienced issues with child sex trafficking, child endangerment, and child sex abuse material (CSAM) occurring as a result of an increase in local commercial sex activity.

Efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex in the county have included arrests of sex buyers and sex traffickers as a result of alternative investigations and/or citizen complaints to local law enforcement. For example, in October 2017, a Galesburg man was arrested as the result of a prostitution investigation led by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the West Central Illinois Task Force, for allegedly attempting to solicit a missing male teenager for sex. According to reports, the offender was arrested on an outstanding warrant out of McDonough County by ACSO deputies during a prostitution investigation. The offender was additionally charged with driving while license revoked, involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, and 2 counts of possession of child pornography. The 17-year-old male victim was taken into custody and was listed as missing/endangered. The sex buyer was transported to the Adams County Jail on $75,000 bond. His identity and image were included in reports by local media outlets.