Cumberland, ME

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

Cumberland is a city with a population of approximately 7,200, located in southeastern Maine, just north of Portland.  Cases of sex trafficking and other related crimes associated with commercial sex have been documented, including a 2014 case in which a woman was forced to be sold for sex in Cumberland and several other Maine counties, and fled when she learned her traffickers in Maine had been offered $30,000 by traffickers in New York to buy her.

Police have attempted to address the problem by arresting sex buyers.  In early 2018 State Police arrested a man at the Cumberland service plaza along the Maine Turnpike. Troopers began their investigation earlier in the week after the man had approached a female worker at the plaza for sex.  He was arrested days later after he returned to the service plaza in his tractor trailer for a prearranged meeting with what he thought was going to be a teenage girl. Instead he was met by Troopers. He was charged with patronizing prostitution with a minor and taken to the Cumberland County Jail.

Key Partners

  • Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office
  • Yarmouth Police Department
  • Bridgton Police Department
  • Brunswick Police Department
State Maine
Type City
Population 7211
Location
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