Kern County is an area with approximately 918,000 residents, located in California’s Central Valley.  Bakersfield is the county’s seat and largest city. Many crimes and serious problems have been linked to prostitution in the county. For example, a relatively routine prostitution case in 2009 involved a Rio Norte Junior High School teaching assistant and her daughter being arrested on suspicion of soliciting prostitution through an Internet advertisement. Kern County sheriff’s vice unit detectives began investigating the women after being notified of the online ads.  The women, aged 56 and 31, were arrested after they removed all of their clothes for an undercover deputy who responded to their ad. The ads on Craigslist.com and Backpage.com showed photos of two partially clothed women – one younger and one older – offering a one-hour massage for $250 and a $60 bonus option promising a “Sensual Massage by Mother/Daughter Duo – $250/hr.”  Each woman faced misdemeanor charges for solicitation of prostitution and for managing a massage parlor without a license. Kern County Sheriff’s officials continued their ongoing sting operations at illicit massage parlors, in collaboration with the Kern County Public Health Services Department.  In March 2018, they announced their third undercover sting operation conducted jointly by Public Health and KCSO, which included the arrest of women cited on suspicion of solicitation of prostitution at a massage business on Merle Haggard Drive, and at another on Wible Road, and the closure of both businesses. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is sex trafficking. Prostitution related violence – including homicide – has also occurred within the county.