Dale is a borough of about 1,200 residents located in Cambria County, near Johnstown in western Pennsylvania. Despite its small population size, cases of prostitution and sex trafficking have been reported in the borough. This activity and its ancillary crimes has resulted in complaints to local law enforcement from residents and businesses. Violence against individuals engaging in commercial sex, rape, and robbery of sex buyers have been reported to occur during commercial sex activity in the area. Among the more serious problems associated with the local commercial sex market is child sex trafficking.

Efforts to combat commercial sex have included those focused on demand reduction. While we know of no traditional reverse stings that have occurred in Dale, there have been proactive efforts to arrest individuals paying to sexually abuse minors. For example, in 2014, a 38-year-old Dale Borough man was charged with over 200 counts of various sex charges in two cases. According to reports, the man sexually assaulted the first victim, a 7-to-8-year-old girl from July 2003 to July 2004. Police said the offender would sometimes remove $7 or $8 from his sock and tell the girl, “Anytime this happens I have money.” He also physically assaulted and starved the victim. According to reports, when the victim told the offender she was hungry, “he would throw food at her and then punch her in the arm before allowing her to eat.” Charges for the first case included one count each of rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, prostitution, two counts of corruption of minors, three counts of indecent assault. Additionally, the offender was arrested for assaulting a second child between April 2001 and April 2005. In that case, he was charged with 130 counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and 75 counts of aggravated indecent assault. Police did not release details in the case. The offender’s identity, age, hometown, charges, and image were included in reports by local media outlets.