Geauga County, Ohio has a population of approximately 96,000, and its county seat and largest city is Chardon.  Other noteworthy communities in the county include Burton and Chardon Townships. The county is located in northeastern Ohio, approximately 30 miles from Cleveland. Prostitution, child sex trafficking, and child sexual exploitation have been documented throughout the county. For example, in December 2005, a 75-year-old Amish widower in Burton Township was scammed out of more than $67,000 by a prostituted woman and her boyfriend. He responded to a newspaper ad seeking sex and was referred to the woman, whom he met with about six times in 2004. The pair convinced him that photos of him and the prostituted woman would appear on the internet and the man gave them the money to get rid of the pictures. The prostituted woman and her boyfriend were charged with extortion, theft from an elderly person, and burglary. A massage parlor in Chester Township was investigated for prostitution, and shut down in 2008 after complaints from residents about the sex buyers for several preceding months. There have also been incidents involving child sexual abuse materials (i.e., child pornography) being created and exchanged with minors in the county, as well as “sextortion” of minors.

Arrests of sex buyers and disclosure of their identities have occurred within the county, with county agencies assisting local police.  For example, in November 2005, a Burton Township man was charged with compelling another to engage in sexual activity for hire and compelling prostitution in Chardon Municipal Court after being arrested by the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office for offering a woman money to have sex with both him and a 14-year-old boy. Deputies said he admitted to offering the woman $100 to engage in sexual conduct with the 14-year-old, and investigators caught the transaction on tape. Both charges were felonies, one with a potential jail sentence of 2-8 years and a fine of up to $15,000 and the other with a potential sentence of 1-5 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. In July 2017, a man staying in Chardon Township was arrested on charges of compelling prostitution and unlawful restraint after calling the police to report that a “stripper” he had hired from an escort service refused to have sex with him. The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office report on the incident stated that the man paid $195 for an escort service to come to the residence where he was staying with four other men. The woman was taken into a bedroom after she arrived and two men wanted her to have sex, but she refused. The men got upset and would not let her leave, demanding half their money back. The woman argued with them for about five minutes and then began screaming loudly enough for the man she came with to hear from the car. Sheriff’s office deputies responded to the sex buyer’s call along with City of Chardon Police and heard the man state “that he did not pay for a fat stripper to come over and that he wanted his money back.” The man told a deputy that he believed he was paying to have sex with the woman when he hired her and he thought paying women to have sex was legal in Ohio. The other man involved in the incident was charged with misdemeanor unlawful restraint, but later pleaded guilty to criminal mischief. The names, ages, and hometowns of the two men were released to the public.