Clinton County is a county of approximately 40,000 residents located in central Pennsylvania, along Interstate 80, just west of Williamsport, PA. Its county seat and most populous city is Lock Haven, PA. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented issues in the county dating back at least to the 1970s. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market are child sex trafficking and child sex abuse material (CSAM).

Among the tactics used to reduce commercial sex activity are those addressing consumer-level demand. For example, in 2018, a federal sex trafficking case resulted in the indictment of a Lock Haven resident on one count of possession of child pornography (CSMA), two counts of production of child pornography, two counts of the attempted enticement of minors to engage in prostitution, and one count of transmitting obscene materials to a minor. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania alleged that on various dates in 2017, the suspect produced child sex abuse material in Lock Haven with a female under the age of 12 and also used a computer to compile videos of himself and minors appearing by web-cam over the internet. On two occasions, the offender used online chat-rooms to allegedly solicit sex acts and obscene images from minor females, under the age of 12-years-old, in exchange for money. The two 11-year-old girls, were actually a female state trooper posing as minors online, communicating with suspected sex buyers. The suspect admitted taking a picture of an 8-year-old and distributing it over Skype, the affidavit states. The state charges accuse the man of using to his cell phone to take a picture of a female while she was sleeping with a breast exposed. Numerous images of child pornography, both male and female, were found on a laptop computer and a cell phone during the execution of a search warrant. The case was investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Clinton County District Attorney’s Office and the Assistant United States Attorney. The maximum sentence if convicted on all charges exceeds 100 years. His identity was included in reports by local media sources.