Freedom is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, located along the Ohio River 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. Its population is roughly 1,700.  Other substantial cities and towns within the Western Pennsylvania county are Beaver Falls, Aliquippa, Center Township, Ambridge, and Monaca. Prostitution has been recognized as a local problem for decades throughout Beaver County, and community complaints have played a role in police operations responding to commercial sex in the cities, towns, and boroughs. Among the problems associated with prostitution in the county are sex trafficking of adults and children, as well as the murder of a prostituted woman in 2003.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and demand reduction tactics have been used in the community. For example, in October, 2022, a Freedom borough man was arrested and faced various federal charges after investigators claim he solicited a minor for commercial sexual abuse. A federal grand jury indicted the 64 year old man on counts of attempted sex trafficking of a child and receiving images of a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct. If found guilty, he will face a minimum of 10 years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines, and at least five years of supervision after his prison release. In an announcement from the Western Pennsylvania court, investigators alleged the man knowingly received sexually explicit images of a child in May, 2021. In this interaction, he attempted to solicit the girl to “engage in commercial sex acts” via text message and encouraged her to send sexually explicit photos of herself (thus constituting child sexual abuse images, or CSAM). According to the charges, the man later picked up the child in a church parking lot before taking her to a motel room and sexually assaulting her.  The investigation into the incident was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Northern Regional Police Department.