Allegheny Township is a community in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Its population is about 8,000 and it is the northernmost municipality of Westmoreland County.  Prostitution is a well documented problem in the community.  For example, in May, 2013 a massage parlor in Allegheny Township was the center of a prostitution investigation by state police. A four-month investigation allegedly showed the women exchanged sex for money at a spa on Old Route 220.  The investigation was aided by Allegheny Township police, who in January and April, received information from men who were stopped in their vehicles after leaving the health spa.  Several men told police they had paid for a massage and afterward the masseuse got undressed and offered him “a date” for  up to $140. A search of the Spa turned up a large box of condoms, according to state police.  This same business had been investigated for prostitution previously, e.g., in 2001, two undercover state troopers arrested a masseuse at the business and were criticized for allowing the woman to perform oral sex after paying her with police funds as part of the investigation. At the time, there was no policy regarding the issue, but subsequent policy changes now forbid it.  In that case, the masseuse pleaded guilty and was fined $458 while the massage parlor’s owner forfeited around $1,000.

Among the responses by law enforcement have been the arrest and shaming of sex buyers.  For example, in April 2020 a man was arrested and faced felony charges after police say he forced a prostituted woman to perform a sexual act and then robbed her at an Allegheny Township motel. The man responded to the woman’s online ad, and she agreed to have sex with him for $80. They met at the motel, had sex, and he paid with $50 and crack cocaine. They met again the next day for another transaction, and the man held a knife against the woman and forced her to perform oral sex on him. The man then stole her money and left.  The woman called 911 just after the man drove away, and gave police a description of what he was wearing as well as the license plate number of his car. When police found the vehicle he had exactly the amount of money the woman reported stolen, and later found the discarded knife used to threaten her. The man was charged with felony robbery and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion, as well as misdemeanor counts of theft, receiving stolen property, and patronizing a prostitute. He was released on an unsecured $25,000 bond and was scheduled to appear before a Magisterial District Judge.