Merrillville is a city of approximately 36,000 residents, located near Lake County, in northwest Indiana, near Gary. Prostitution has been reported in the city, occurring at the street level and within certain businesses (such as massage parlors).

In May 2011, Merrillville drew media attention when “Indiana federal prosecutors alleged that three brothers in Indiana and Illinois helped smuggle women into the country from Mexico and Central America. The women were then told they needed to pay off the cost of getting into America by working for them. Those involved in the ring would transfer women from brothel to brothel on a near-weekly basis”, using Merrillville as their primary “transfer point.”

In an effort to crack down on the area’s commercial sex market, the Lake County Sheriff’s Department has conducted at least one reverse sting in the city. The operation, conducted in September 2013, was led by detectives from the LCSD’s Children and Family Unit. The operation’s objective was to identify sex buyers soliciting sex online and at the street level. First, LCSD detectives placed a decoy advertisement on Craigslist. Then, a female undercover LCSD officer posed as a prostituted woman for several hours on a city block known for commercial sex sales. Three sex buyers were arrested as a result of the operation; news reports did not clarify, however, whether the individuals were identified after they responded to the web posting or if they merely approached the officer on the street. All three arrestees’ names and mugshots were released to the public.