Center Township, OH

Tactics Used

Auto Seizure
Buyer Arrests
Cameras
Community Service
Employment Loss
Identity Disclosure
IT Based Tactics
John School
Letters
License Suspension
Neighborhood Action
Public Education
Reverse Stings
SOAP Orders
Web Stings

Center Township is one of the eighteen townships of Columbiana County, Ohio. Its population is roughly 6,000 residents. Columbiana County is located on the state’s border with Pennsylvania, about 20 miles south of Youngstown and 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Other noteworthy cities within the county include East Palestine and Salem. Prostitution and sex trafficking, and a wide range of associated crimes, are well documented locally and throughout the region.

Among the tactics used to address such problems are those targeting consumers of commercial sex, including the arrest of sex buyers through web-based reverse stings and the disclosure of their identities. For example, in April 2018, a 48-year-old man was arrested in Center Township and indicted by the Mahoning County Grand Jury for allegations involving the attempted rape of a 12-year-old boy. He faced nine charges, including importuning, compelling prostitution, attempted rape, disseminating matter harmful to a juvenile, and possessing criminal tools. The man was arrested by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force and sheriff’s deputies at a Center Township motel. The Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department said that the man offered $50 to have sex with someone he thought was a 12-year-old boy, but was actually an undercover officer. The arrest was a continuation of the original online undercover sting that brought indictments against ten other men who faced various sex charges.

Key Partners

  • Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force
  • Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office
  • Mahoning County Grand Jury
State Ohio
Type City
Population 5970
Location
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