Shelton is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, with a population of approximately 41,000. It is less than 10 miles from Ansonia, Bridgeport, Milford, and New Haven, and prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented problems throughout this area for decades.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. For example, in December, 2016, Shelton Police Department officers arrested two people in a local hotel room on prostitution charges. Shelton police responded to a Bridgeport Avenue hotel on a complaint of suspicious activity. The hotel manager told officers there was heavy foot traffic in and out of a specific room on the third floor, and that most of the visitors to the room were men.  Officers went to the room and found a 20 year old woman engaged in prostitution, and and a 51 year old male sex buyer. The ensuing investigation determined that the man had solicited the woman on the Internet for sex at a predetermined price and later met at the hotel to complete the transaction. The woman was charged with prostitution and released on $1,000 bond. The man was charged with “patronizing a prostitute” and also released on $1,000 bond.  Both were scheduled to appear in Derby Superior Court.