Mounds View is a suburb of St. Paul, MN in Ramsey County, and has a population of about 13,000 residents. Prostitution has been identified as a local problem, particularly indoors in hotels and massage parlors, which has generated complaints to law enforcement. The Mounds View Police Department has, in turn, begun to focus on demand to alleviate local problems with prostitution. In October 2013, MVPD officers arrested 19 men at a motel after they responded to “decoy” online ads for prostitution. All arrestees were booked at the Ramsey County Jail on gross misdemeanor charges of engaging in prostitution in a public place, and were then released pending formal charges.

Additionally, Ramsey County prosecutors have actively worked with the lodging industry to curb local prostitution, as the MVPD has stated that the majority of solicitations appear to be initiated online through classified ads on sites like Backpage.com, and finalized in one of several local hotels.

When asked about the recent operation, Mounds View police stated that the web sting targeted the underlying demand for prostitution as a means for ultimately helping keep young runaways and other women from getting involved in human trafficking. The St. Paul Police Department, Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and the MVPD all participated in the investigation.