Salina is a town of roughly 33,000 residents, situated in the northwest suburbs of Syracuse in Onondaga County, New York. Although many law enforcement efforts appear to target prostituted women and pimps (specifically those operating within adult-oriented businesses) rather than apprehending sex buyers, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office has previously conducted at least one reverse sting targeting sex buyers.

In September 1988, following a series of investigations into illegal activity at Salina’s Motel 7 Truck Stop, OCSO deputies sent a female police investigator undercover to stroll the facility’s parking lot. During the sting, the decoy was propositioned for acts of prostitution by five truckers. Each of the men was charged with solicitation. Following their arrests, all of the men’s names, ages, and hometowns were publicized by the Syracuse Post-Standard, which also noted that the female operative had recorded the solicitations on a hidden microphone during the operation.

A more recent reverse sting operation suggests that local law enforcement may have a renewed interest in addressing the demand component of the commercial sex market. In March and July of 2016, stings were conducted by the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office and the New York State Police that resulted in the arrest of eight people charged with patronizing a prostitute. The men are accused of going to hotels in the town of Salina and agreeing to pay police decoys between $70 and $260 for sex. The operation occurred in response to complaints from residents about prostitution services and human trafficking, according to the sheriff’s office. The arrestees’ names, ages, and home addresses were released to news outlets. One of the men arrested in this operation was a former dean at Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management. The university removed him from this role and placed him on administrative leave until further notice following his arrest.