Parker is a town and home rule municipality of approximately 60,000 residents, located in Colorado’s Douglas County about an hour’s drive southeast of Denver. Prostitution activity, at times involving minors, has been reported in the community for at least five years. In at least one instance, a local prostitution ring involving minors was linked to larger trafficking networks in Denver, Aurora, Commerce City, Lakewood, and Colorado Springs.

To combat prostitution and sex trafficking in the area, local law enforcement agencies have targeted consumer-level demand for commercial sex, which provides the revenue stream driving all commercial sex and trafficking. Among their attempts to contain the commercial sex market, the Parker Police Department and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office have conducted reverse sting operations,targeting individuals seeking to purchase commercial sex. For example, in the spring of 2015, Parker Police Department officers launched a web-based reverse sting targeting adults attempting to solicit minors for sex online called Operation Broken Heart II. The PPD officers posted decoy listings to websites known for commercial sex, posing as minors, and communicated with potential sex buyers online. As a result of the investigation, nine men were arrested, six of whom were charged with solicitation of child prostitution. All of the men’s names, ages, hometowns, and mugshots were disclosed by local media outlets. In early July 2015, members of the press reported that at least one of the men arrested during the operation had the charges against them dismissed.

In October 2006, a Parker resident was arrested and charged with one count each of engaging in child prostitution and sexual assault on a person with a 10-year age difference after he allegedly contacted a 16-year-old female through a Denver-based escort service that was listed on Craigslist. The two were arrested by Denver Police during a sting operation in October 2006. In 2009, more than two years after his arrest and after a four-day trial, he was convicted of patronizing an underage prostitute (i.e., child sex trafficking victim). During the course of the man’s trial, the offender’s attorney was also arrested for allegedly attempting to intimidate the underage female victim. The case was investigated by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, acting on a tip from Denver Police Department officers. The sex buyer was sentenced to 30 days in jail and required to register as a sex offender; his identity was publicized in press.