Tuscumbia is a city of about 8,000 residents in northwestern Alabama. It is the county seat of Colbert County and part of The Shoals metropolitan area. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been documented in the city, resulting in complaints from residents to law enforcement. One of the more severe crimes associated with the local commercial sex market is child sex trafficking.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and demand reduction tactics have been employed. At least one sex buyer arrest with identity disclosure has been documented in the city. In October 2015, a family reported to Tuscumbia Police that their 14-year-old daughter was missing shortly before another anonymous caller reported that a girl about the same age was being prostituted at a local apartment building. Police located the girl and determined that drugs and money had been exchanged for sexual contact with the minor. The apartment’s tenant was charged with human trafficking and another man who sexually abused the girl was charged with rape. Police reported the girl was familiar with the men who trafficked her. A 19-year-old woman who was at the apartment at the time of the sex act was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Their identities were released to the press.