New Rochelle is a city in Westchester County, in the southeastern portion of New York. It is located near Manhattan, close to Scarsdale and the Bronx. Other noteworthy communities near New Rochelle include Elmsford, Peekskill, Rye, Rye Brook, White Plains, and Yonkers. In 2020, the city had a population of approximately 80,000. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been documented throughout Westchester County, including sex trafficking of minors in the foster care system, and prostitution and trafficking occurring in spas and massage businesses. For example, in September, 2007 a local couple was charged with promoting prostitution from their home. The New Rochelle Police had been doing rountine monitoring of Craigslist and became suspicious when they saw provocative ads, and their investigation found that a brothel was being run out the couple’s house in New Rochelle, across the street from the Thomas Paine Cottage. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is sex trafficking. In a case announced in August, 2022, law enforcement agencies estimated there were hundreds of victims in the Hudson valley linked to a single sex trafficking operation. The FBI, the Westchester County Safe Streets Task Force, Greenburgh Police Department, and the Westchester County Police Department announced they were seeking additional victims of the human trafficking investigation, after they had arrested the alleged leader of the conspiracy and charged her with sex trafficking in Westchester County and elsewhere.

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. Demand reduction tactics used in the city include reverse stings and the disclosure of sex buyer identities.  For example, in October, 2022, a downtown massage parlor in New Rochelle was ordered closed after police conducted a prostitution sting that resulted in five arrests, including one 71 year old man arrested for “patronizing a prostitute.” The New Rochelle Police Department concluded a prostitution investigation into a spa located at 514 Main Street, where people were arrested on various prostitution and related offenses. The identities of all arrested persons were publicly disclosed.  Investigators said that the business had an ongoing practice of engaging in prostitution, as well as multiple building code violations. The New Rochelle Building Department later deemed the building “unsafe for occupancy.” The spa was also raided in September of 2021 year, when two women were charged with prostitution.