Orangeburg is a small city of approximately 12,500 residents, located in Orangeburg County in central South Carolina. Prostitution, including the solicitation and commercial sexual exploitation of minors, has been reported in the community. In response, both the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety and Orangeburg County Sheriff’s Department have launched investigations targeting underlying demand for prostitution. In February 2012, for example, Orangeburg DPS officers conducted a street-level reverse sting after receiving reports from street officers of suspected prostitution in the Bleakley neighborhood. Using undercover female officers as decoys, Orangeburg police were able to apprehend nine men attempting to purchase sex. All were arrested and charged with solicitation.  A similar DPS operation in September 2013 resulted in the arrests of nine additional sex buyers; unlike those arrested in 2012, however, the men apprehended in the latter operation had their identities released to the public.

In January 2015, Orangeburg County Sheriff’s deputies announced the arrests of eight male sex bueyrs after the men solicited sex from a female undercover deputy in Orangeburg. Although the logistical details of the operation were not disclosed, the arrestees’ identities were publicized. A OCSD representative also reported that five of the eight men also had narcotics in their possession when they were apprehended.