Sterling is a census-designated place with approximately 31,000 residents, located in Loudoun County in northern Virginia. Active prostitution and sex trafficking markets in the city have been well-documented for decades.  For example, in June 2013 two Atlanta men were sentenced for running  a prostitution ring that exploited underage girls operated in seven states, from Maryland to Florida.  The operation which prostituted at least 23 women and seven minors in seven states, as far back as 2007. One of the convicts had the word “pimp” tattooed above his eye, and the other used violence and intimidation to keep girls in the prostitution ring when they wanted to quit.   They recruited girls and women through backpage.com and other Internet sites and had them meet clients in hotels.  Locations named in court documents include hotels in Sterling, Ashburn, and Herndon Virginia. In addition to child sex trafficking, businesses have complained to law enforcement officials about prostitution in certain neighborhoods. In July 2018, two men were arrested and charged with running a prostitution ring out of a residence in Sterling. Detectives with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office began the investigation in August of 2017, after receiving reports of a possible prostitution ring running out of a residence on West Nettle Tree Road. Women would travel from other states and meet the two men in Maryland, and the two pimps would take the women to various spots in Loudoun County. The men were charged with two felony counts of receiving money from earnings of a female prostitute and two misdemeanor counts of using vehicles to promote prostitution.

In response to such crimes, law enforcement officials have targeted consumer-level demand for commercial sex.  The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office has conducted reverse stings targeting those buying sex. For example, in February, 2015 a Loudoun County deputy was arrested for soliciting prostitution during a web-based reverse sting.  He pleaded guilty, and was ordered to pay a $250 fine and $121 in court costs for the soliciting prostitution charge. At the time of his arrest, the defendant had recently graduated from the training academy and had been assigned as a deputy at the Adult Detention Center in Loudoun County. He was in probationary status at the time of his arrest and was fired the day following the incident.

In June, 2017, eleven men were arrested in an internet predator sting called “Operation Safe Summer.” All had made online contact with investigators, and arranged to engage in sexual activity with a juvenile within Loudoun County. All 11 men were charged with communication with a minor under the age of 15 for the purpose of sexual contact. Operation “Safe Summer” included members of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Fairfax County Police Department, the FBI Washington Field Office Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, the Northern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children’s Task Force (ICAC).