Stanislaus County is located in the Central Valley area of California, and has approximately 553,000 residents. Prostitution has been a formidable problem in the area for decades, with recent activities concentrated in the city of Modesto, Turlock, and surrounding towns and unincorporated areas. Child sex trafficking is also well-documented within the county. Commercial sex sales are said to reach a pinnacle during the region’s harvest season. To address the issue, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department (SCSD) has incorporated the use of several demand-driven tactics to identify and apprehend sex buyers. In their efforts, the SCSD has routinely conducted street-level reverse stings, at times collaborating with officers from the Modesto Police Department. Operations have typically utilized undercover female officers who pose as decoys. In January 2011, a single sting resulted in the arrest of 26 male sex buyers in just over 10 hours at a South Modesto hotel. As a deterrent to other potential sex buyers, the SCPD released the men’s names and photos to the local media.

In May 2018, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies made 11 arrests in Turlock in a planned operation targeting online human trafficking. The arrests were made over several hours from Friday evening to about 3 a.m. Saturday at a motel on Walnut Road. Sheriff’s investigators in Patterson had learned of a social media platform being used for human trafficking. They used the site to set up meetings at the motel and made a series of arrests over one night. The 11 men and women were arrested on charges of prostitution and solicitation, pimping, and a variety of warrants and drug charges. The operation was led by deputies in Patterson with assists from deputies in Waterford as well as officers from the Turlock Police Department.