Breaux Bridge is a small city in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, with a population of roughly 8,200 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Lafayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. Prostitution activity has been well-documented in the region. For example, in March, 2018, a former Breaux Bridge city court judge was arrested and charged with offenses including pandering, prostitution and other crimes following a Louisiana State Police investigation. He was accused of running a brothel out of a local motel. The attorney had practiced in Louisiana for more than 45 years, and was placed on interim suspension following a Louisiana Supreme Court order, a few weeks after his arrest on prostitution charges.  His law license was then suspended by the Louisiana Bar Association. Later that year, St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s deputies arrested the man again plus an additional Breaux Bridge attorney and his wife – the first man’s son and daughter in law – and booked them with conspiracy and theft. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses.

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. Demand reduction tactics used in the city include the arrest of sex buyers and the public disclosure of their identities. For example, in March, 2021, the first of what was expected to be multiple arrests occurred after a months-long sex trafficking investigation. The man’s arrest was made in connection to a report of a missing juvenile from Lafayette Parish, according to our news partners at KATC. According to a press release from the Breaux Bridge Police Department, the man was taken into custody to the St. Martin Parish Correctional Center on charges including: Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, Carnal Knowledge of a Juvenile, Soliciting Minors to Distribute CDS, and drug offenses.