Sacramento County is a county of approximately 1.4 million residents, including the cities Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, and North Highlands, California. The county has had activity of serial rapists and murderers that specifically targeted prostituted women. Many cases of child sex trafficking have been documented in the county; other, less severe local problems linked to prostitution have generated numerous complaints from residents.

Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputies conduct stings and have been conducting reverse stings since 2007 that routinely target and arrest johns.  The FBI and local law enforcement agencies conducted Operation Cross Country VI in June 2012. The operation targets child prostitution and is coordinated by the Innocence Lost Initiative. The operation is a partnership between law enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Sacramento efforts, with six arrests and six victims recovered, accounted for nearly 8 percent of the victims rescued during the national Operation Cross Country VI.  Since the first operation in June 2008, multi-agency teams in the Sacramento Division area have recovered 23 children and arrested 18 pimps.

In May 2018, twelve men were arrested in a multiagency reverse sting in south  Sacramento County. The operation was carried out by a regional coalition called Sacramento Together, which includes the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, and the Rancho Cordova and Sacramento police departments.  Of the arrests, 9 suspects were detained on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute and one person was held for supervising or aiding a prostitute. The remaining two arrests were related to outstanding warrants, authorities said.  Victim advocates with Community Against Sexual Harm, a women’s support group, and the Sacramento County district attorney also offered services to women in the area prior to the sting, a press release by the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

People convicted of soliciting prostitution or agreeing to engage in prostitution acts can face up to 180 days in jail and ordered to stay away from “stroll” areas, or known prostitution hot spots (i.e., SOAP Orders).