Rossford, OH
Categories:
Tactics Used |
|
---|---|
Reverse stings | ✓ |
Shaming | ✓ |
Auto seizure | ✓ |
Community service | ✓ |
Public education | ✓ |
Neighborhood action | ✓ |
SOAP orders | ✓ |
John school | ✓ |
Letters | ✓ |
Cameras | ✓ |
Web stings | ✓ |
License suspension | ✓ |
Rossford is a small city of approximately 6,500 residents in Wood County, Ohio, located near Perrysburg and Toledo. Its major prostitution and sex trafficking problems have been attributed to its proximity to highways and the Toledo metropolitan area. News reports of widespread truck stop prostitution in Rossford and other communities along the Interstates 75 and 90 highway corridors date back to the 1970s. The highway routes provide a client base of truckers, and also facilitate the movement of the supply of trafficked and prostituted persons. Truck stops and motels provide places for commercial sex to occur. The Wood County Sheriff’s Office has conducted periodic reverse stings in Rossford since at least 2011; stings targeting the arrest of prostituted persons date back to at least 1977. Photos of and other identifying information about arrested sex buyers have been released to local news outlets.
In February 2014, a web-based reverse sting was conducted in Rossford. Decoy ads were placed online, and meetings were arranged at the Knights Inn, with an undercover female officer in one room and in the next room, a team of police officers fitted with surveillance, video recorders and mics. Four arrests were made of male sex buyers. The men were expected to attend the Lucas County John School Program, which began in 2009 and meets in Toledo.
Key Partners
- Wood County Sheriff’s Office
- Perrysburg Township Police Department
- Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation
- Wood County Sheriff’s Office
- Rossford Police Department
Key Sources
- National Assessment Survey
- Reverse Stings and Shaming:
- “19-Year-Old Former Homecoming King among 7 Arrested in Wood Co. Prostitution Bust”, NBC/WNWO-TV 49, December 19 2012.
- “7 Arrested for Solicitation in Sting on Buck Road”, Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune, December 20 2012.
- “Area Men Charged with Solicitation”, Findlay Courier, December 20 2012.
- “Prostitution Sting Nets 5 Arrests in Wood County”, NBC/WNWO-TV 49, January 23 2013.
- “5 Arrested in Rossford Undercover Prostitution Operation”, Toledo Blade, January 24 2013.
- “Local Firefighter among 5 Charged in Wood County Solicitation Sting”, Toledo Blade, January 26 2013.
- “3 Prostitution Stings in Wood County Net 21 Suspects”, Toledo Blade, August 21 2013.
- “Prostitution Sting Results in More than 20 Arrests in Wood County”, NBC/WNWO-TV 49, August 21 2013.
- “Prostitution Stings Net 20 Arrests”, Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune, August 21 2013.
- “21 Arrested in 3 Wood Co. Hotel Soliciting Stings”, Toledo Blade, August 22 2013.
- “City Man Arrested in Prostitution Sting”, Findlay Courier, August 22 2013.
- “Bluffton Man Arrested for Solicitation”, Findlay Courier, February 14 2014.
- “Local Briefs; Four Arrested for Prostitution”, Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune, February 20 2014.
- Web-Based Reverse Sting and John School:
State | Ohio |
Type | City |
Population | 6293 |
Location |
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