Little Rock is the capital and largest city in Arkansas, with approximately 202,000 residents. Prostitution has been a persistent and visible problem in the city for decades, and has generated a wide range of crimes associated with commercial sex activity, including child and adult sex trafficking, drug trafficking, weapons offenses, homicide (including the targeting of prostituted women by at least one serial killer) and the production of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM, often called “child pornography” in criminal codes). For example, in April, 2017, a local pimp was sentenced to 15 years in prison for forcing a 17 year old girl to engage in prostitution (i.e., paid sexual assault of a minor) with up to 25 men per day. In November, 2o21, a Little Rock man pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of a 6-year-old child, and was later sentenced to life in prison. The child had been taken to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in February 2018 suffering from symptoms that were later determined to be caused by several sexually transmitted diseases. The child was interviewed by an FBI forensic interviewer and disclosed that two men had raped her in a hotel room that had been rented by the child’s mother. The two suspects tested positive for sexually transmitted diseases, and they admitted in court that they had sexually assaulted the child and were involved in trafficking her with others. In August, 2022, a former professional boxer was sentenced in federal court to 30 years in prison following his conviction on “child pornography” and sex trafficking charges. He was originally indicted in 2019 on firearms and drug charges and went to trial on two counts of sex trafficking, one count of distribution of child pornography and one count of production of child pornography. His trial was dominated mostly by the testimony of two women, one of whom told jurors that the offender had lured her with promises of making fast money, but after she agreed to move in with him he kept her captive and began beating her when she refused to engage in prostitution. The woman testified that she escaped when the man took her and his girlfriend to a Walmart in Little Rock, where she ran to an employee for help. A second victim testified that she met the man when she was 17, and that he recruited her into prostitution. She testified that he posted suggestive and nude photos of her online along with online profiles he had crafted for her on various dating sites. She testified that she was with him for about six months, during which she estimated she earned roughly $50,000 from prostitution. Reports of sex trafficking networks and their related crimes within the city have drawn the attention of local and national law enforcement.

Located just off Interstate 40, Little Rock has been identified by the FBI and local law enforcement as one of the key stops along one of the nation’s most main human trafficking routes. In an effort to identify traffickers and recover victims, Little Rock police have collaborated with agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. An investigation in 2009 resulted in the arrest of two men, who later pled guilty to trafficking minors for the purposes of commercial sex. In May 2012, FBI agents uncovered a nationwide trafficking network when they apprehended a man in Iowa City. The operational headquarters of the traffickers was later revealed to have been Little Rock.

To combat demand, the Little Rock Police Department incorporated the use of street-level reverse stings beginning in 1981. Operations involve deploying an undercover female officer as a decoy. When johns attempt to solicit sex from her, they are quickly apprehended. Once arrested, the men may be required to pay a fine and complete a number of hours of community service. Arrestees’ names and other identifying information are sometimes– but not consistently– publicized in local media outlets.

A recent example occurred in May, 2018, in which nine men were cited in a reverse sting in southwest Little Rock.  Undercover female officers working for the city’s vice squad targeted johns who were soliciting sex for $20.  The five-hour operation occurred on May 31 in three spots along Baseline Road, including near a car wash at 8020 Baseline Road and a liquor store at 8800 Baseline Road. The men were cited with sexual solicitation and not booked into the county jail, and their names, ages, and home towns were released publicly.