Rexburg, ID

Tactics Used

Auto Seizure
Buyer Arrests
Cameras
Community Service
Employment Loss
Identity Disclosure
IT Based Tactics
John School
Letters
License Suspension
Neighborhood Action
Public Education
Reverse Stings
SOAP Orders
Web Stings

Rexburg is a city of roughly 35,000 residents in southeastern Idaho. It’s the largest city in and county seat of Madison County, and the principal city of the Rexburg Micropolitan Statistical Area (which includes Fremont County and Madison County). Prostitution and sex trafficking have been documented in the city. 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.  For example, in November 2016, a routine traffic stop by Rexburg police resulted in 32-year-old man being charged with ‘patronizing a prostitute.’ According to reports, officers from the Rexburg Police Department pulled over a vehicle in which police discovered that the occupants of the car had 0ut-of-state warrants, motivating officers to search the vehicle. Inside the vehicle they found drugs and other paraphernalia. They also found a record book belonging to one of the women in the vehicle, which contained sex buyer identities and locations of previous and future commercial sex arrangements. Police proceeded by conducting a reverse sting in which the prostituted woman met with a sex buyer; the two allegedly connected online after he responded to an ad she posted on Craigslist, and upon his arrival to a local hotel, the sex buyer was arrested by police for ‘patronizing a prostitute.’ None of the vehicle’s occupants were arrested on prostitution-related charges. The identity and image of the arrested sex buyer were publicly released.

State Idaho
Type City
Population 35320
Location
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