Among the tactics used to address such problems are those targeting consumers of commercial sex, including the arrest and identity disclosure of sex buyers. For example, in May 2021, a man was arrested on felony charges for attempting to solicit prostitution in the East Palestine area, including compelling prostitution, a third-degree felony, and possessing criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony. According to a court affidavit provided by the New Waterford Police Chief, the suspect had a past criminal record which included procuring prostitution and public indecency and had been known to travel to East Palestine for employment. On this occasion, he allegedly answered an advertisement known to be used by people in prostitution and drove to East Palestine seeking sex with two 16-year-old foster home runaways. He brought a phone he used to set up the illegal activity and a GPS device to find the location. He reportedly offered $80 and the purchase of groceries in exchange for sexual activities with the girls. A May 20 preliminary hearing was set for the offender in county Municipal Court. His bond was set at $15,000 cash or surety and he was ordered to have no contact with minors. He was the second man that month arrested for similar allegations, and was charged with compelling prostitution, a third-degree felony; attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a fourth-degree felony; and possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony. The man allegedly intended to purchase from a girl’s mother access to sexually abuse her 14-year-old daughter, offering $800 but agreeing on the price of $1,000 before traveling to East Palestine.

In July 2021, a man was bound over to the grand jury on charges of compelling prostitution, attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, importuning, and possession of a criminal tool. He had allegedly solicited a sexual act with a 15-year-old girl in exchange for $150, driving to East Palestine and parking his vehicle to walk to the meeting location, where he was arrested. The man had traveled to East Palestine after arranging a meeting for sexual activity in exchange for money in answer to an ad posted online by a Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force agent.

In February 2022, a Youngstown man pleaded not guilty to charges filed after an undercover sex sting that resulted in his arrest in Columbiana County. The man was arrested along North Sumner Street in East Palestine by members of the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force. According to a complaint filed in court, the man answered an ad on a website used by escorts offering sex for hire and offered to pay $180 for unprotected sex. When the man appeared at the pre-arranged location, investigators say he had $200 and the phone allegedly used to set up the meeting. The suspect was charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools. An East Liverpool man was also arrested in East Palestine in February 2022 after answering a decoy ad placed by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force on a known escort website. The man requested sexual acts in exchange for $180 and was arrested at the meeting location in East Palestine with a drug for the woman he planned to meet. He was charged with engaging in prostitution and possession of criminal tools, and was fined $750, received a suspended jail term, and was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service.

In February 2022, a local restaurant owner charged with engaging in prostitution was ordered to perform community service and be on probation for the two years after entering guilty pleas to lesser charges of disorderly conduct and possession of criminal tools in Columbiana County Municipal Court. He was arrested in East Palestine in November 2021 after responding to an online ad soliciting prostitution. As part of his plea deal, he was also fined $450.

In November 2021, a man was arrested by East Palestine police and agents with the Mahoning County Human Trafficking Task Force and faced criminal charges after he answered an online ad to meet a woman for paid sex. He allegedly made arrangements to meet a woman for sex in exchange for $300, and reportedly said he was “into beastiality” and requested the woman find a dog to join them, stating he was interested in having sex with the woman after the dog had sex with her. He also allegedly had no objections to the woman getting high on narcotics during the sexual encounter. He was charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools. The man had been appointed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office as the coordinator of the Mercer County Drug Task Force and was also the fire chief for West Salem Township. County officials quickly removed him from his position with the drug task force. In June 2022 the man was sentenced to 180 days in jail with 120 of those days suspended, was fined $800, was ordered to complete a 12-hour prostitution eduction course (john school), and was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service, but was allowed to buy those hours out.

In August 2022, a man responded to an online ad and solicited sexual conduct from an undercover officer posing as a prostituted woman in exchange for $140. He traveled to East Palestine for the meeting to complete the commercial sex transaction. In Columbiana County Municipal Court in February, 2023, the sex buyer he was fined $750 and given a suspended 90-day jail term for engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools. He was also ordered to perform 20 hours community service and complete a 12-hour education course.

In December 2022 and January 2023, more than a dozen men traveled to Salem and East Palestine in response to police decoy ads and were arrested, and their identities publicly disclosed. Penalties included $750 fines and 40 hours of community service. Ohio Attorney General David Yost said of the operation:

“Our message is clear: Don’t buy sex in Ohio – you will be charged and held accountable.”

In January 2023, a man was denied a recent motion for work release. He had been placed under community control on probation for three years and ordered to serve 90 days in the county jail for “attempted compelling prostitution,” a fourth-degree felony. A charge of possession of criminal tools was dismissed as part of the plea agreement reached earlier this fall. He had originally been charged for compelling prostitution for arranging to meet in East Palestine in August, 2021 with an undercover officer he believed to be a 16-year-old “prostitute” (i.e., sex trafficking victim), agreeing to pay $80 in exchange for sexual conduct. In January, 2023, another man arrested in a previous sting in East Palestine was sentenced after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors. According to court records, he will serve no jail time but will be on probation for two years. He was also ordered to perform community service and take a 12-hour education course (i.e., “john school”) as part of the terms of his probation. In March, 2023, reporting on the case dispositions of several of the sex buyers arrested in a reverse sting in East Palestine included $750 fines, 90-day jail terms that were suspended pending the completion of other requirements, 20 hours of community service, and completing a “12-hour education course”

In some cases, sex buyers arrested in East Palestine have been ordered to forfeit the money they had agreed to pay the decoy prostituted women.  For example, in March, 2023, a man was fined $750 and given a suspended 30-day jail term for engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools for soliciting sexual activity in exchange for $180 with an undercover agent posing as two adult females. He had arrived on Jan. 6 in East Palestine for the meeting, and was arrested. He was later ordered by the Columbiana County Municipal Court to forfeit $200 to the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force and was permitted to buy out 40 hours community service.  Also in March, 2023, a man was fined $750 and sentenced to seven days in jail for engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools for answering an ad placed on a known prostitution website by an undercover agent and arranging to have sex with a woman in exchange for $140. The man traveling July 8, 2022 to East Palestine for the meeting, and was arrested. He was ordered by the Columbiana County Municipal Court to forfeit the $140 to the East Palestine Police Department.

Loss of employment is another consequence of sex buying that has occurred in East Palestine. For example, in December 2021, the Mahoning County Human Trafficking Task Force arrested a city council member in East Palestine who had responded to an ad on a known escort website of an adult female offering sex for hire. The man was charged with engaging in prostitution and possessing criminal tools. The sex buyer resigned from his council position with the city. He was also required to pay a $1400 dollar fine, do 50 hours of community service within seven months, and be on probation for the following two years.