Cloquet is a small city of roughly 12,000 residents, located in eastern Minnesota’s Carlton County near Duluth. Prostitution is a well-documented problem in the city. At least one case of child sex trafficking has also been reported; in 2003, two local residents were charged with recruiting a 17-year-old girl in Cloquet and transporting her to Illinois where she was forced to commit acts of prostitution for a Chicago-based escort service.

Although efforts to reduce prostitution in the area appear limited, the Cloquet Police Department has conducted at least one reverse sting to identify and arrest johns. According to media reports, the CPD launched the sting in 2010 after receiving information about individuals “seeking prostitution for hire via the internet.” In response, the department conducted a year-long investigation to intercept sex buyers. While the logistical details of the web-based reversal were not disclosed to the public, CPD officers reportedly received “28 inquiries in all which consisted of text messages, emails and phone calls,” culminating in the arrests of 9 men for solicitation at a local hotel. With the investigation complete, the department released the names, ages, and hometowns of each of the arrestees in June 2011.