Snyder County, Pennsylvania has a population of approximately 40,000, and its county seat is the city of Middleburg. Prostitution activity has been well-documented within the county, and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses.

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. Demand reduction tactics used in the county include web-based reverse stings, other sex buyer arrests, and the disclosure of sex buyer identities.  For example, in October, 2021, three men were arrested in a federal sting operation addressing “child prostitution” (i.e., child sex trafficking) in central Pennsylvania. The three were charged with “attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity and prostitution.” Two of the men were arrested in Union County and the third in Snyder County, when they arrived for a pre-arranged meeting to exchange money for sexual abuse of minors. FBI agents signed the complaints. The identities of the arrested sex buyers were publicly disclosed.

In October, 2022, an inmate alleged she was raped by her driver when being transported to a drug treatment center. The male van driver worked for the treatment center and was tasked with bringing a 23 year-old woman from the Franklin County Prison to the center.  Center employees contacted police when the woman arrived and said she’d been raped by the 75-year-old driver, who reportedly pulled the van off a dirt path along the river in the area of S. Susquehanna Trail in Trevorton. During the investigation though, state troopers discovered they had allegedly agreed to a consensual encounter in which the man paid the woman $20 in exchange for sex. The driver was charged with institutional sexual assault and “solicitation of a prostitute.” The woman was charged with prostitution and arraigned before being taken to Snyder County Prison.