Burton Township is one of the sixteen townships of Geauga County, Ohio. With a population of just under 5,000 residents, it is located in northeastern Ohio approximately 40 miles east of Cleveland. Prostitution has been documented locally, and is often linked to drug trafficking and abuse. Child sexual abuse has also occurred in the township. There has also been a robbery of a sex buyer by a prostituted woman and an alleged pimp. In December 2005, a 75-year-old Amish widower in Burton Township was scammed out of more than $67,000 by a prostituted woman and her “boyfriend.” The sex buyer had responded to a newspaper ad offering paid sex and was referred to the woman, whom he met with about six times in 2004. The pair convinced the man that photos of him and the prostituted woman would appear on the internet, and the man gave them the money to get rid of the pictures. The prostituted woman and her boyfriend were charged with extortion, theft from an elderly person, and burglary.

At least one sex buyer arrest has occurred in Burton Township that resulted from an investigation, rather than a reverse sting. In November 2005, a Burton Township man was charged with compelling another to engage in sexual activity for hire and compelling prostitution in Chardon Municipal Court after being arrested by the Geauga County Sheriff’s Department for offering a woman money to have sex with both him and a 14-year-old boy. Deputies said he admitted to offering the woman $100 to engage in sexual conduct with the 14-year-old, and investigators caught the transaction on tape. Both charges were felonies, one with a potential jail sentence of 2-8 years and a fine of up to $15,000 and the other with a potential sentence of 1-5 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.