North Wildwood, New Jersey is located on the Jersey Shore in Cape May County, and is part of the Ocean City Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population is approximately 3,800. Prostitution activity has been well-documented in the city and surrounding areas, and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies. Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is sex trafficking.

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, the disclosure of sex buyer identities, and employment loss. For example, in 2021 a North Wildwood man was arrested at his home for attempting to meet an underage girl for paid sexual abuse, and was charged with attempted human trafficking of a child, luring of a child and attempted sexual assault. In January, 2021 a man contacted an undercover investigator with the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office via text message. The investigator was posing as an adult woman offering access to sexually abuse her 14-year-old sister. The suspect asked to pay $300 to engage in sexual abuse acts with the child, and continued to chat with the undercover investigator for the next month.  In March, the man attempted to meet the child at a location in West Deptford, and told the undercover investigator he would rent a room at a local hotel and bring condoms. He also agreed to meet the older sister and the child for dinner. The U.S. Marshal’s Service Fugitive Task Force arrested the man at his home in North Wildwood. He was taken to the Salem County jail pending a detention hearing.  Agencies assisting in the investigation included the U.S. Marshal’s Service, North Wildwood police, Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children task force.