Douglas County is a county in the Northwest part of Nevada and has a population of roughly 48,000 residents. The county seat is Minden. Prostitution in the state of Nevada is legal in counties with populations under 700,000 residents and is illegal in counties with populations over 700,000 counties. In the State’s larger cities such as Carson City, Reno, and Las Vegas, prostitution is prohibited. Legal prostitution occurring within counties consisting of populations less than 700,000 residents, is strictly limited to licensed and regulated brothels. All other forms of prostitution remain illegal in the state of Nevada. Individuals seeking to purchase commercial sex outside of licensed and regulated brothels can be arrested and sanctioned. For more information about the Prostitution and Solicitation laws in Nevada click HERE.

Prostitution and sex trafficking are well-documented problems in Douglas County and in surrounding areas. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious crimes associated with local commercial sex market in Douglas County is sex trafficking of adults and minors. For example, in October of 2020, the FBI’s Northern Nevada Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force along with numerous other agencies, including the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, conducted a week-long sex trafficking sting in Nevada that resulted in the arrest of 28 male sex buyers seeking to engage in the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Each of the arrested offenders had agreed to meet at a house in South Reno, where upon their arrival, they were arrested by law enforcement officers. All offenders were arrested on felony counts of soliciting a child for prostitution and attempted child abuse. Additionally, seven men were arrested on felony counts of facilitating sex trafficking. The offenders’ identities, ages, and charges were included in reports from local news sources.

In May of 2021, three men were arrested in a sex trafficking operation in Stateline, NV. According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the arrested offenders had contacted undercover agents posing as minors online and offered to exchange money for sex. Two of the sex traffickers were arrested on charges of solicitation of a minor for prostitution and attempted child abuse for sexual exploitation. In addition to facing solicitation and exploitation charges, the third sex trafficker was arrested on charges of luring a child with a computer device, attempted lewdness with a child under the age of 16 and attempted statutory sexual seduction by someone over the age of 21. Detectives from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Reno Police Department Human Exploitation and Trafficking, and the Nevada Department of Investigation arrested the three men. According to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, web-stings targeting sex buyers and sex traffickers occurring two times a year in the county.

In July, 2022, Investigators from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Reno Police Department’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) team along with the Federal Bureau of Investigations conducted a human trafficking operation in the Stateline, Nevada area. Over the two-day operation, Investigators arrested nine adult males who contacted undercover officers posing as underage minors for the purpose of engaging in sexual abuse of minors. The adult males faced charges including but not limited to: Soliciting a Child for Prostitution, Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Child, Attempted Statutory Sexual Seduction, Attempted Child Abuse Involving Sexual Exploitation, Attempted Luring of a Child, and one male was charged with resisting arrest. An additional two adult males were cited and released for “Solicitation for Prostitution” of an adult.  In October, 2022, one of the men arrested for soliciting a minor was sentence to a term of probation. He admitted to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child under 18 and solicitation of a child for prostitution. According to court documents, he contacted an officer who was posing as a 17-year-old child via an escorting website and offered her and a 15-year-old friend $1,000 in exchange for transport to Reno to participate in paid sexual abuse. He also sent a picture of his genitals to the officer posing as a child and asked her for a nude picture in return (i.e., solicited child sexual abuse materials, or CSAM).