Copley Township is one of the nine townships of Summit County, Ohio. It has a population of about 17,000 residents and is located in northeastern Ohio just west of Akron. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been documented in the town and in the county and surrounding areas, as well as an instance of child endangerment in which a baby was present in the room where prostitution was occurring. Among the tactics used to combat these problems are those focused on reducing consumer-level demand for commercial sex. The Copley Police Department has participated in at least one web-based reverse sting. In September 2019, twelve men were arrested in northeast Ohio as part of a prostitution and sex trafficking investigation in Summit County. The undercover operation involved contacting people through websites that advertised sexual services, and was conducted by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in collaboration with the Copley Police Department and the Cuyahoga Regional Human Trafficking Task Force. Charged included soliciting, possession of methamphetamines, and promoting prostitution.

At least one opportunistic arrest of a sex buyer has also occurred in the township. In October 2015, a sex buyer was arrested in Copley Township after he called the police to report being threatened inside a motel room. He had responded to an advertisement on Backpage.com, but became upset when he arrived because he said a different woman’s photo was used online than the woman he met at the motel. After renegotiating their agreement and leaving the motel room, the sex buyer returned to find the woman’s pimp exiting the bathroom holding a baby. The pimp told the buyer he needed to pay $20 more for a total of $170 for the transaction. The pimp allegedly held his 9-month-old daughter in the motel room while the baby’s mother had sex with another man for money. The sex buyer said he called the police out of concern for the baby’s wellbeing. The pimp was charged with felony promoting prostitution and misdemeanor child endangering, while the baby’s mother was charged with misdemeanor child endangering and prostitution. The sex buyer was charged with soliciting prostitution and his name and other identifying information were released in news reports.