Eagle River is a town of about 1,700 residents in Vilas County, Wisconsin. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the town and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of the county.  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 problems associated with commercial sex in the area include child sex trafficking.

To combat prostitution and sex trafficking, local law enforcement agencies have targeted consumer-level demand for commercial sex, which provides the revenue stream driving all commercial sex and trafficking. In September 2017, the Wisconsin’s Attorney General announced the arrest of 25 people in sex trafficking stings across the state. The web-based reverse stings were focused in northern and eastern Wisconsin, and operations focused on people seeking children for sex and johns who solicit prostituted persons. Some of the sex buyers arrested were seeking sex with 14-and 15-year-old children.  Charges include soliciting a prostitute, pandering, soliciting a child for prostitution, attempted second degree sexual assault of a child, child enticement, using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, exposing a child to harmful material, and exposing a child to harmful narrations. The Eagle River Police Department Office was one of the agencies collaborating in these operations.  In a news release announcing the results of the operations, the Attorney General said:

“The only reason human trafficking exists is because there is a demand for buying sex. Those creating the demand – the johns who buy victims and the pimps who are exploiting them – are not safe to exploit and coerce people in our state. When I was sworn in as attorney general, I put johns on notice. We are coming for you, and for some – we already got you. DOJ’s Human Trafficking Bureau’s arrests this summer will not be the last.”