Oak Ridge is a city in both Anderson County and Roane County, in the eastern part of Tennessee, situated about 25 miles west of downtown Knoxville, TN. The city has a population of approximately 32,000 residents. Instances of prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented in the city and surrounding areas.

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. For example, in 2013, a top official with a security subcontractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge was arrested during a web-based reverse sting operation in Knox County. According to reports, the sex buyer allegedly responded to a decoy ad on Backpage.com, a website known for prostitution, and agreed to meet an undercover officer for commercial sex at a local hotel. As a result of his arrest the sex buyer was charged with patronizing prostitution within 100 feet of a church building.

In May of 2021, the Oak Ridge Police Department led a web-based reverse sting operation in which authorities placed several decoy advertisements on websites known for prostitution and sex trafficking. The focus of the operation was to identify individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with minors. As a result of the operation, authorities arrested nine men and booked them into the Anderson County Jail. In addition, the operation also focused on identifying potential victims of trafficking. Two adult women were identified and offered victim centered services such as housing and counseling through Grow Free Tennessee, a program of the Knoxville-based Community Coalition Against Human Trafficking (CCAHT). Law enforcement officers from the Seventh Judicial Task Force -District Attorney General Dave Clark’s Office, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Human Trafficking Unit, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, and Oak Ridge Police Department took part in the operation. Police Chief Robin Smith said that the ORPD took the initiative to hold the sting in response to several recent instances of men soliciting sex from local minors online. In response to such problems, the District Attorney General’s Office offered training to parents on the risks online that can occur through smartphones, computers and even gaming systems. The identities and photos of arrested offenders were included in reports by local media outlets.

Loss of employment is also a consequence of buying sex in the city. For example, in 2016, the former creative pastor at Lifehouse Church was one of 32 individuals arrested during the Knoxville Police Department’s web-based operation, “Operation Someone Like Me,” that focused on targeting individuals seeking to sexually exploit minors in exchange for money. According to reports, the former creative pastor had responded to an advertisement on Backpage.com in which the sex trafficker was expecting to meet a 17-year-old-girl. Authorities initially cited the former creative pastor on a patronizing prostitution charge and released him. However, because authorities said the offender had expected to sexually exploit a minor in exchange for money, state law increases the offense from a misdemeanor to a felony. As a result of his arrest, the offender was removed from the church’s website and is assumed to have been terminated from his position as volunteer creative pastor.