Englewood is a city of just under 14,000 residents, located in the northern suburbs of Dayton, Ohio. As in Dayton and many other communities in surrounding Montgomery County, Englewood has reported problems with prostitution and sex trafficking for several years, with activities frequently arranged online and occurring in local hotels and motels. In February 2014, for example, law enforcement participating in the National Week of Johns Arrests recovered a 26-year-old woman being forced into prostitution at an Englewood motel after officers saw a listing advertising her services online. In April 2022, a Kentucky woman was charged with promoting prostitution after it was alleged that she was running a brothel at an Englewood massage business. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office arrested her after investigating complaints regarding illegal sexual activity occurring at the business.

To address these issues, the Englewood Police Department partnered with Dayton Police to conduct a web-based reverse sting in December 2014. Officers arrested 10 would-be sex buyers over a three-day period. All of the men’s identities were released to the public. When asked about the operation, an EPD representative commented that law enforcement “want[s] to keep the word out, (if) people think they’re going to come to Englewood for (sex), this will be in the back of their mind, that we’re going to enforce this and maybe they won’t come here.”