East Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, with a population of about 51,000 as of the 2020 census. The town is located on the east bank of the Connecticut River, directly across from Hartford, Connecticut. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented problems in the Hartford area for decades, and associated crimes occurring within the sex trade context have included the homicide of prostituted women, and infants endangered during prostitution transactions.  Historians have documented a thriving “red light” district in the 1800s and early 1900s that was illegal but tolerated, and connected to a variety of crimes and other problems such as infectious disease. In a more recent example, in October, 2021, an East Hartford man who was initially charged with trafficking in persons was convicted in a plea bargain of three lesser felony counts of third-degree promoting prostitution and sentenced to six years in prison. He had coerced and assaulted a women, compelling her to engage in prostitution for his financial gain. In March, 2022, an East Hartford man was sentenced to eight years in Federal prison in a child sex trafficking case.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and demand reduction tactics have been used in East Hartford. For example, in January, 2023, a male sex buyer was accused of raping a woman at gunpoint and beating her in East Hartford. After the assault, the woman reported the incident to East Hartford police from a hotel on East River Drive. A detective pursuing the case said the woman had been bleeding from a 2-inch cut on her forehead and was taken to Hartford Hospital. She told police she had been trying to “make some money” on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford when a man approached her. She got in his car to discuss the price of  sex acts, and he then drove her to East Hartford and stopped on East River Drive to complete the transaction. She said the man instead raped her at gunpoint and beat her all over her body with a baton. In a subsequent interview at the East Hartford police station, the alleged offender acknowledged to police that the woman in the incident “was a prostitute” who had agreed to have sex with him for money. The man was charged with aggravated first-degree sexual assault, second-degree assault, and brandishing a facsimile firearm.