Kennewick is a city of roughly 85,000 residents located in Benton County, WA. The cities of Pasco, Richland, and Kennewick form the metropolitan area known as the Tri Cities. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well-documented problems in the Tri-Cities area. For example, in mid-2013, three Kennewick teenagers were arrested for coercing a 15-year-old girl into prostitution. The teens (a 19-year-old male, his 16-year-old girlfriend, and a 14-year-old) pressured the girl to engage in commercial sexual abuse with an adult male for $60. The teens gave the girl $10 of the money and kept the rest. They later tried to sex traffic the girl again, and when she refused, they assaulted her. Additionally, the three teenagers took nude photos of the 15-year old to advertise for prostitution in Seattle. Police arrested the 14 and 16-year-old girls who faced charges of promoting commercial abuse of a minor, and a second degree assault with intent to commit a felony. The 19-year-old male was arrested and booked into Benton County Jail for promoting commercial abuse of a minor and second degree assault with intent to commit a felony.

In June 2022, a man was arrested on accusation of raping multiple prostituted women at gunpoint over the course of two years. Since his arrest, more victims have come forward. The string of attacks followed a similar pattern. The offender used an escort site to meet women, then after meeting them, he raped them at gunpoint. The women also reported that the man would demand money from them and take their phones. His identity was released on local media outlets.

Driven in part by community complaints, local police have engaged in a number of strategies to combat prostitution and sex trafficking. For example, in August of 2017, a combined street-level and web-based reverse sting was conducted by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office in collaboration with the Richland Police Department and the Kennewick Police Department. The operation resulted in the arrest of six male sex buyers. All of the arrestees had posted (or responded to) sex ads online, and met with undercover officers at local hotels to engage in commercial sex. After discussing payment for the service and exchanging money, an arrest signal was given and suspects were arrested by undercover officers waiting in the next room. The men and women were held at Benton County Jail. The women were charged with prostitution and the men were charged with soliciting prostitution, their identities were released.