Putnam County, Indiana, has a population of approximately 37,000. The county seat is the city of Greencastle. Prostitution activity has been well-documented within the county. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. 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 county include the arrest of sex buyers and the public disclosure of their identities. For example, in 2018 a Putnam County couple and a Fountain County man were arrested and charged with human and sexual trafficking, and conspiracy to commit child molestation. The charges were a result of an investigation into multiple incidents in 2016. In the affidavit, investigators claimed that a 70-year-old man paid a married couple thousands of dollars to sexually abuse two girls under the age of 16. The man had picked the girls up separately, and took one camping and one to a hotel.  The main paid $700 each time he took the girls, which happened “five or six times.”