Salem is a city of approximately 12,000 residents in northern Ohio, located in Columbiana County, with a small section in southern Mahoning County. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well-documented problems locally, and the local sex trade produces many additional crimes such as violence and drug offenses. Child sex trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children have been among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market.

Among the responses are the use of tactics targeting demand for commercial sex. For example, in July 2021, a man who traveled from Painesville to Salem for commercial sex faced law enforcement officers instead of the arranged meeting he expected. Misdemeanor charges of soliciting prostitution, possession of criminal tools, and advertising massage services were filed against the man by an agent with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force, through the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, has been conducting undercover operations in a demand-reduction effort to reduce the sex industry in Ohio. Salem Police personnel responded to the municipal lot at Pershing and South Lundy where an arranged meeting was to take place between the suspect and a prostituted woman, who turned out to be a task force agent. The suspect had conversed with the undercover task force agent by text earlier in the day. Police assisted the agent in making contact with the man for a suspected sex offense. He was detained, consented to a search of his vehicle, and was taken to the police department. The task force agent issued summons for the man to appear in Columbiana County Municipal Court for the offenses. His cell phone was confiscated as the alleged criminal tool and he was released with the summons. Earlier that same month, a Youngstown man had been arrested after coming to Salem for an alleged arranged meeting with a 15-year-old girl. That occurred during another undercover social media operation by the task force. Also in July 2021, a Salem man faced 34 charges for his alleged involvement in attempting to procure a teenager for paid sexual abuse based on materials investigators with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force found in his possession after a search warrant was obtained for his home. The man was charged with importuning, a fifth-degree felony; six counts of disseminating matters harmful to juveniles, each a fifth-degree felony; attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a fifth-degree felony; possessing criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony; 10 counts of pandering obscenities involving a minor or impaired person, each a fourth-degree felony; and 15 counts of illegal use of a minor or impaired person in nudity-oriented material or performance, each a fifth-degree felony. He had been accused of attempting to solicit law enforcement posing as a child between 13 and 16 years of age, into sexual conduct, providing that “child” with obscene materials; and traveling to meet the person he believed to be a child for sexual abuse. The other charges were for obscene materials allegedly found on his phone or at his Salem home.

In January 2022, a man tried to meet with a prostituted woman in Salem, but instead was engaged by an undercover agent with the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force and Salem Police. The undercover task force posted an ad online for solicitation of prostitution and the suspect from Weirton responded to the ad. The suspect allegedly asked the undercover agent, whom he thought was a prostituting woman, to smoke a cigarette while engaging in two commercial sex acts with him, and agreed to pay $25. The man was issued a summons for misdemeanor charges of engaging in prostitution and possession of criminal tools after being detained. He was scheduled to appear in Columbiana County Municipal Court.

In April 2022, the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force arrested three sex buyers in a web-based reverse sting in Salem. The men responded to an ad placed on a website known for prostitution by an undercover agent posing as a decoy. The men were arrested when they showed up at a pre-arranged location. The affidavits filed said the arrests were part of Task Force efforts to reduce the continuing demand for prostitution. In August, 2022, another reverse sting produced at least two additional arrests, and one of the men’s charges included third-degree felony of compelling prostitution, fourth-degree felony attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, fifth-degree felony possession criminal tools and misdemeanor engaging in prostitution for allegedly soliciting sexual conduct from an undercover Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force agent posing as an adult female in exchange for $80. The man also solicited sexual conduct from a 15-year-old female friend of the adult, expecting to meet both of them when he arrived in Salem on May 30 with money and his cell phone. The other arrested man was charged with a third-degree felony of compelling prostitution, fourth-degree felony attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, fifth-degree felony possession criminal tools and importuning for allegedly requesting sexual conduct from a Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force agent posing as a 15-year-old female online in exchange for $160 and wanting the teen’s mother to watch and verbally degrade him for another $20. The man had traveled to Salem on June 12 with cash and his cell phone for the arranged meeting.

In October, 2022, a man who had been arrested in an Mahoning County Human Trafficking Task Force operation was fined $750 for possessing criminal tools and disorderly conduct, amended from engaging in prostitution, and ordered to forfeit $80 to the Task Force. He was also permitted to buy out 40 hours of community service. The man had arrived in Salem on May 24 with his cell phone after arranging to meet an undercover agent for to exchange money for sex. In December 2022 and January, 2023, more than a dozen men traveled to Salem and East Palestine in response to police decoy ads and were arrested, and their identities publicly disclosed. Penalties included $750 fines and 40 hours of community service. Ohio Attorney General David Yost said of the operation:

“Our message is clear: Don’t buy sex in Ohio – you will be charged and held accountable.”

John school program completion has been imposed as a condition of sentences for sex buyers arrested in Salem.  For example, in March, 2022, a Salem resident was fined $500 for disorderly conduct, amended from engaging in prostitution, and possessing criminal tools. He was permitted to buy out 60 hours community service and ordered to complete “an online preventing prostitution course.”  The man had solicited a sexual act in exchange for $40 from an undercover Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force agent, driving to Salem  for the arranged meeting to complete the transaction.