Sumner County is a jurisdiction with approximately 200,000 residents in Middle Tennessee, located northeast of Nashville on the border with Kentucky. The county seat is Gallatin, and the largest city is Hendersonville. The county also contains portions of Millersville. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the communities and unincorporated areas of the county.  This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates result in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses.

To combat prostitution and sex trafficking in the area, local law enforcement agencies have targeted consumer-level demand for commercial sex, which provides the revenue stream driving all commercial sex and trafficking. In addition to local efforts in Gallatin, Hendersonville, and Millersville, there has also been at least one web-based reverse sting conducted on the county level. In February 2022, 13 men were arrested after allegedly seeking sex from minors during an undercover sting operation conducted by the TBI Human Trafficking Unit, Hendersonville Police Department, Sumner County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and Tennessee Human Trafficking Task Force. The two-day online operation involved undercover officers placing several decoy advertisements on websites known for prostitution. Officers said 100 men responded to the ads. The men who showed up in person were booked into the Sumner County Jail and their identities were released to the public. Their charges included solicitation of a minor, possession of drugs and paraphernalia, domestic assault, patronizing prostitution with a minor, and trafficking for commercial sex act. This was the second operation conducted by the TBI in 2022. One of the men arrested worked in human resources for the Metro government but abruptly resigned following his arrest, according to the director of communications for the Metro Action Commission. In February, 2023, another web based reverse sting produced the arrest of four sex buyers, some of whom attempted to pay to sexually abuse children.