Hood River County is a county located along the border of Oregon and Washington, just east of Portland and has a population of approximately 24,000 residents. Its county seat is Hood River, OR and the county features a port of the Columbia River in the city of Hood River. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the county, generating complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious problems associated with commercial sex in the area include child sex trafficking.

To combat prostitution and sex trafficking in the area, local law enforcement agencies have targeted consumer-level demand for commercial sex, which provides the revenue stream driving all commercial sex and trafficking. For example, in July 2018, four men, ages 23 to 44, were arrested and charged with online sexual corruption of a child in the first degree. In addition, a male 16-year-old male was arrested and charged with first-degree attempted sodomy. The operation was led by the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office and the Portland FBI – Child Exploitation Task Force with assistance from the Columbia Gorge Major Crimes Team and Hood River County District Attorney’s Office. The Columbia Gorge Major Crime’s Team includes detectives from The Oregon State Police, The Dalles Police Department, Wasco County Sheriff’s Office, Hood River Police Department and Hood River County Sheriff’s Office. The identities and images of the four adult offenders were included in reports by local media outlets. The 16-year-old offender’s identity was not released by police. Online sexual corruption in the first degree (ORS 163.433) is a Class B felony in Oregon and requires that a person knowingly uses an online communication to solicit a child to engage in sexual contact or sexually explicit conduct and intentionally takes a substantial step toward physically meeting with or encountering a child.