Shalersville Township is one of the eighteen townships of Portage County, Ohio. The 20120 census found 5,650 people to reside in the township. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented throughout the county and in the region – including the Township. Between 2017 and 2019, state and federal agencies assisted local law enforcement in investigations in numerous cities and counties in northeast Ohio for alleged commercial sex crimes. The raids were part of a collaborative investigation between the Ohio Investigative Unit, the U.S. Secret Service, and local law enforcement agencies. The investigation started in 2017 when agents were tipped off about possible illegal activity. Search warrants were executed in Kent, as well as in Avon, Broadview Heights, Brunswick, Cleveland, Columbia Station, Copley, Lorain, Mansfield, North Royalton, Perkins Township, Strongsville, and Wooster. In some communities, search warrants were executed at multiple locations. In 2021, Portage County participated in the largest sex trafficking investigation in the state of Ohio’s history. As a result of the statewide investigation, over 161 arrests were made, and officials also located several missing children. “Operation Ohio Knows,” coordinated through AG Yost’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC), was a collaborative effort that took place from September 24, 2021 to October 1, 2021 to address issues that fuel sex trafficking in Ohio.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and demand reduction tactics have been used in the Township. For example, in July, 2017, two people were arrested after allegedly traveling to Portage County for the purposes of prostitution. The Portage County Sheriff’s Office alleged that a 66 year old man drove the 29 year old woman to the 8300 block of Infirmary Road in Shalersville, where she allegedly was going to engage in sexual intercourse in exchange for $80. The pair had allegedly used a cellphone to arrange the deal, according to a criminal complaint. The sex buyer was charged with one count each of promoting prostitution, a fourth-degree felony, and possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony.  The man later pleaded guilty to disrupting public services, a fourth-degree felony, was sentenced him to three years probation, ordered to pay more than $564 in fines and court costs, and forbid him from having contact with the prostituted woman. The woman was arrested and charged with one count each of tampering with evidence and illegal conveyance, both third-degree felonies, possession of criminal tools and possession of drugs, both fifth-degree felonies, and soliciting prostitution, a third-degree misdemeanor. Following her arrest, the prostituted woman allegedly tried to destroy and hide suspected cocaine and drug paraphernalia in the back of a marked sheriff’s office cruiser, and had cocaine and paraphernalia in her possession while being booked at the Portage County jail. She was later sentenced to probation.