Spring is a census-designated-place of approximately 62,000 residents, located north of Houston, near Humble in Harris County, Texas. Like many communities in the county, Spring residents and law enforcement officials have reported problems with street and business-based prostitution. For example, a nightclub in the city was sued in 2009 after numerous residents reported prostitution and related activity was occurring at the nightclub. In addition, investigators filed more than 20 criminal cases involving incidents that occurred on the premises in 2007 and 2008, including prostitution, indecent exposure, public lewdness, sexually oriented business violations and disorderly conduct. The city has also faced issues regarding illicit massage businesses (IMBs) For example, in 2013, the owner of Spring business was arrested on charges of prostitution and conducting business without a proper sexually oriented business permit.

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. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office has conducted at reverse stings in Spring. For example, in May of 2013, the HCSO conducted a web-based operation, that resulted in the arrest of 12 male sex buyers. According to reports, officers placed decoy advertisements soliciting sex on a website known for prostitution activity, wherein sex buyers would respond to the advertisements and arrange to meet with undercover female sheriff’s deputies. Following the investigation, the identities, mugshots, and other identifying information of arrested male sex buyers were publicized in local media outlets.

In early February 2016, HCSO officers staged a street-level reversal in the county that resulted in the arrest of 11 sex buyers in the Spring area. Media outlets reported that men were intercepted after soliciting an undercover female law enforcement officer. The exact location of the sting was not disclosed, though media reported that the operation was staged in northwest Harris County in response to community complaints about prostitution activity occurring in “the area of I-45 and Cypresswood,” near Spring High School. The names and mugshots of the 11 arrested offenders were released to the public in the days that followed the investigation. Media reported that one of the sex buyers, who was also a former HPD officer, had his 4-year-old child with him at the time of his arrest.

Some local arrests of sex buyers are the result of investigating allegations of offenses involving real victims as opposed to the product of sting operations using police decoys. For example, in February, 2023, three people were arrested in connection after a prostitution operation in Spring. Authorities with Harris County Precinct 4 conducted the operation after complaints of misconduct and prostitution were reported at an unlicensed massage parlor on east Louetta Road just east of I-45 the North Freeway. Two woman were arrested and charged with prostitution while the man was charged with solicitation of prostitution. An investigator posing as a customer of the establishment was solicited for sex and/or acts by a woman working there. As uniformed deputies went in side, a second female working in the establishment was found to be performing sex acts with an actual male customer. The women were arrested and charged with Prostitution. They received a $100.00 bonds out of County Court 7. The sex buyer was arrested and charged with Solicitation of Prostitution. His bond was set at $1,000.00 out of the 180th District Court.