Lumberton is a city of approximately 21,000 residents, located in southern North Carolina along the state’s Inner Banks. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been documented in the city, and problems associated with these activities include the homicide of prostituted women.  Officers from the Lumberton Police Department have conducted at least three street-level reverse stings, using undercover female officers as decoys. One such operation, carried out in 2005 as part of the city’s Weed and Seed program, resulted in the arrest of 10 “johns.”  To deter the men from reoffending, police released arrestees’ names and other identifying information to the local media. In February 2017 a web-based human trafficking sting at a local motel resulted in the arrest of seven men and three women whose identities were publicly disclosed by police.