Elgin is a city of roughly 100,000 residents, in greater Chicago metropolitan area.  The city has conducted at least 10 reverse stings, to our knowledge.  One of the more recent ones, occurring in October 2011, was coordinated with other cities in an effort called “A National Day of Johns Arrests.”  The Cook County Sheriff’s Office has co-coordinated several of these national (or more precisely, multi-city) efforts.  The one in the fall of 2011 included police and sheriff’s departments from Cook County, Aurora, Cincinatti, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Newport, VA, resulting in the arrests of 216 sex buyers collectively. A more typical operation occurred in June, 2014, and resulted in the arrest of six sex buyers.

The men arrested in Elgin are charged with violating a city ordinance.  Autos can also be impounded when used in a crime, including buying sex.  In the June 2014 operation, all six subjects were arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Sexual Act, a Class A Misdemeanor, and were given court dates in Elgin Branch Court, 150 Dexter Court. Their vehicles were towed under the City of Elgin local ordinance for soliciting a prostitute, which carries a $1,000 fine.