Liberty Township, OH

Tactics Used

Auto Seizure
Buyer Arrests
Cameras
Community Service
Employment Loss
Identity Disclosure
IT Based Tactics
John School
Letters
License Suspension
Neighborhood Action
Public Education
Reverse Stings
SOAP Orders
Web Stings

Liberty Township is an affluent suburb of Cincinnati located in Butler County, Ohio. It is one of thirteen townships in Butler County and is located in the east-central part of the county, just south of the city of Monroe. Its population is roughly 40,000 residents. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of Bulter 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 are child endangerment and sex trafficking. For example, in October 2014, police arrested 11 women and two men in a prostitution sting in Belmont Avenue hotels. Liberty Township Police had conducted an Internet sting, and one of the arrested individuals brought their 16-month-old child to a commercial sex exchange (the infant was taken into the care of Child Services).

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. To identify and apprehend local sex buyers driving the prostitution and sex trafficking markets, law enforcement agencies have conducted reverse stings. For example, in March 2019  eight men were arrested in Liberty Township during a statewide effort to crack down on sex trafficking. The operation was conducted by the Ohio Attorney General’s office and Liberty Township police, who posed as young girls in online ads and chatrooms and set up meetings with the suspects, who were then arrested when they appeared at the agreed upon location and time. In most cases the suspects apparently believed they were meeting girls who were underage. Seven of the men arrested were charged with possession of criminal tools and solicitation, and the eighth suspect also faced felony drug possession charges. The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force assisted in the operation.

In December 2020, a reverse prostitution sting resulted in the arrest of 14 suspects accused of trying to buy sex on the internet. The Liberty Township Police Department and the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force coordinated with the Ohio Attorney General’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission on the operation.

Key Partners

  • Liberty Township Police Department
  • Ohio Attorney General’s Office
    • Bureau of Criminal Investigation Crimes Against Children Unit
    • Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission
  • Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force
    • Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office
    • Ohio State Highway Patrol
    • Ohio Adult Parole Authority
    • Austintown Police Department
    • New Middletown Police Department
    • Warren Police Department
    • Ohio Investigative Unit
    • Youngstown Police Department
State Ohio
Type City
Population 39639
Location
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