Hendry County is located inland of Fort Meyers in southwestern Florida and has a population of about 39,000. Its county seat is LaBelle, and Hendry County comprises the Clewiston Micropolitan Statistical Area. Clewiston is a town of approximately 7,300 residents near Lake Okeechobee.  Prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented in the communities and unincorporated areas of the county.  This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates result in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is sex trafficking.Consumer-level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. For example, in April 2013, members of the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office conducted a prostitution sting in the 300 block of West Sugarland Highway, Clewiston. Investigators arrested four men who were taken into custody and transported to the Hendry County Jail.  Web-based reverse stings have been used to catch those soliciting prostituted persons in Clewiston. The names, ages, pictures, and other detailed information about those arrested are often reported in the news. The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Division has also arrested men for pimping.

The Florida State Legislature passed a bill that was signed into law in June 2019 that creates a registry of convicted sex buyers and provides a publicly-accessible listing of their identities. The registry data includes the names, addresses, and photos of those found guilty of soliciting sex from a prostituted person. The database is part of a broader legislation aimed at combating human trafficking by lowering demand for commercial sex. If fully implemented, all communities in Florida would begin using identity disclosure as a demand reduction tactic.