Medina has a population of approximately 26,000. The city is located in far northern Ohio, and serves as the government seat of Medina County. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented throughout the area. For example, between 2017 and 2019, state and federal agencies assisted local law enforcement agencies in investigating numerous cities and counties for alleged commercial sex crimes. The raids were part of a collaborative investigation between the Ohio Investigative Unit, the U.S. Secret Service, and local law enforcement agencies. The investigation began in 2017 when agents were tipped off about possible illegal activity. In addition to Medina County, 15 other search warrants were executed in Avon, Broadview Heights, Brunswick, Cleveland, Columbia Station, Copley, Kent, Lorain, Mansfield, North Royalton, Perkins Township, Strongsville, and Wooster. In some communities, search warrants were executed at multiple locations. Grand juries in Cuyahoga and Medina Counties indicted seven people for promoting prostitution in connection to the stings. Such 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 sex trafficking, child endangerment, and violence committed against people involved in these transactions.

Consumer-level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and demand reduction tactics have been used in the city. For example, in October, 2022, an undercover FBI Task Force Officer posing as a mother with two underage daughters was engaged by a suspect in a conversation on the Kik social media platform, during which he expressed desire to engage in acts of sexual abuse with a fictitious 14 year old girl. The FBI linked the Kik account to the man through his IP address and mobile phone number. After serving a federal search warrant on Kik, the FBI found hundreds of images and video of “child pornography” (i.e., child sexual abuse materials, or CSAM) sent to and from the man’s Kik account. The man was arrested after allegedly sending and receiving CSAM, and engaging in online chats with an FBI officer pertaining to sexual abuse of a child. The suspect was arrested on two federal charges: receipt of visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct; and enticing, or coercing any individual who has not attained the age of 18 years, to engage in prostitution or any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempting to do so. The arrested man was a 37 year old Medina High School social studies teacher.  He was quickly put on paid administrative leave from his teaching position by the Medina City School District. The Superintendent said the District expected a formal resignation from the man, and if it did not receive one, would “take the appropriate action to move toward termination.”