Fountain Hill is a borough of almost 5,000 residents in Lehigh County, located in eastern Pennsylvania just east of Allentown. Instances of sex trafficking have been documented in the surrounding area. At least one sex buyer identity disclosure has led to employment loss in the city.

In March 2023, the borough manager for Fountain Hill was charged with solicitation to commit prostitution, a 3rd-degree misdemeanor, according to a news release from the Lehigh County District Attorney. The DA’s office began an investigation in February, after a complaint was made to the mayor’s office. Investigators determined that the man used a borough-provided cell phone to text a 17-year-old girl who was serving as a junior firefighter with the Fountain Hill Fire Department numerous times, offering to pay her money for sexual acts at his home in Alburtis. The man exchanged phone numbers with the girl for work purposes after he initiated a conversation with her at the firehouse in December. The investigation revealed no evidence of sexual contact between the man and the girl. The man had served as Fountain Hill’s borough manager since August 2021, as well as the borough’s secretary and treasurer. A local news outlet contacted Fountain Hill Borough about the man’s employment status and received no comment at the time. In June, it was confirmed that another man started serving as interim borough manager in May, but the sex buyer was still listed as borough manager on their website. In July 2023, the Fountain Hill Borough Council voted 6-1 to terminate the borough manager, and said he would be formally notified of the decision in a letter. He had also served as a captain of Lehigh County’s hazmat and technical rescue team and as a volunteer firefighter with the Lower Macungie Fire Department’s Alburtis station.