Dublin is a city in Franklin County in the state of Ohio. Its population is roughly 49,000 residents, and the city is a suburb of Columbus. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well documented local problems. For example, in October 2018, Dublin Police arrested four Columbus women on soliciting charges in the 500 block of Metro Place North. According to Dublin Police Department incident reports, the Dublin Police Community Impact Unit was targeting internet advertisements looking for those suspected to be fronts for prostitution. Investigators found and responded to ads on a prostitution-related website and provided a meeting place. One of the women was also wanted on a warrant for child neglect filed in Muskingum County, according to police reports. In January 2021, eight women were recovered and arrested following a human trafficking operation by the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, which included the Dublin Police Department.

Local and regional efforts to address such problems include the use of demand-reduction tactics. For example, in April 2021, the Dublin Police Department partnered with other local and state agencies during a large scale collaborative human trafficking operation that involved reverse stings focused on sex buyers. The collaborative operation was led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and the Human Trafficking Task Force.

Some arrests of sex buyers are the result of investigations pursuing individual offenders, rather than sting operations using police decoys. For example, in September 2021, a man was arrested and charged for paying girls under the age of 18 to send him naked photographs and videos. Phone records indicated the man allegedly coordinated dates and times to meet with the victims at his Dublin home. The affidavit detailed that the man allegedly paid a minor victim $300 on at least five occasions in exchange for lying nude on his bed while he engaged in sex acts. Enticement of a minor is punishable by at least 10 years and up to life in prison in Ohio. Producing child sexual abuse materials (i.e., child pornography) carries at least 15 and up to 30 years in prison, while possessing CSAM can result in up to 10 years. The case was cooperatively investigated by the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force, which operates under Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, and by Homeland Security Investigations, Columbus Division of Police, Dublin Police Department, Franklin County Sheriff’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Delaware County Sheriff’s Office Tactical Unit, Delaware County Drug Task Force, and the United States Marshals Service.