Madison County is located in North Carolina, within the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. It has a population of approximately 22,000. The county seat is the town of Marshall, which has a population of about 900. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity has been well-documented within the county and throughout the Asheville metro region.  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 is sex trafficking. For example, in 2017, an undercover operation by the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security officers arrested 16 suspects facing a total of 53 charges ranging from prostitution to felony drug possession. The investigation started after local law enforcement officers received multiple calls from neighbors and residents. Working with Homeland Security, Madison County Sheriff’s Office investigators began using websites like backpage.com and craigslist.org to identify potential perpetrators and secure a location in a remote section of Mars Hill to meet the sex buyers contacted through the websites. Once they arrived at the arranged site, a female undercover law enforcement officer would engage with the suspect to gather evidence that could help prove the sex-for-money allegations. Once enough evidence was gathered, the decoy would call out a code phrase and a special response team would emerge from the basement to make arrests.

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. For example, in May 2019, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations arrested 31 people during an undercover operation focused on illegal drugs and prostitution. The operation targeted individuals distributing illicit drugs and those involved in prostitution in Madison County. Seven of the men were arrested for “aiding and abetting prostitution.” During the operation, the sheriff’s office also recovered a gun, weapons of mass destruction, numerous controlled substances, and made arrests on charges including child abuse and prostitution. The identities of the arrested individuals were publicly disclosed.