Wellington is a statutory town in Colorado, within Larimer County, and has a population of approximately 12,000 residents. It is located near the Wyoming border north of Denver and is part of the Fort Collins metropolitan area. For at least two decades, instances of prostitution, particularly those arranged online and conducted within city hotels and adult-oriented businesses, have been reported throughout Larimer county. Among the more serious issues associated with the city’s commercial sex market are commercial sexual exploitation of children and child sex trafficking. For example, in 2021 LCSO investigators, along with members of the LCSO Strategic Enforcement Unit, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, conducted a joint sting operation in two different locations in Larimer County focused on apprehending individuals who were actively seeking to sexually exploit minors in exchange for money. The operation was conducted over a period of two days, from December 1 to December 3, and resulted in the arrest of four men on charges of Internet Luring of a Child w/Intent for Sexual Contact or Exploitation, in addition to other related charges. The identities and images of arrested offenders were released by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office.

Efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex in the area have been documented. For example, in June 2019, an operation intended to reduce the demand for prostitution and sex trafficking in Larimer County led to the arrest of eight men who were allegedly patronizing prostituted women. The Larimer County Sheriff’s Office coordinated eight arrests along the Interstate 25 corridor, issuing citations for eight men charged with patronizing a prostitute, a Class 1 misdemeanor, and soliciting for prostitution, a Class 3 misdemeanor. The operation took place between Loveland and Wellington, with the Fort Collins Police Services and human trafficking-focused nonprofit Free Our Girls collaborating on the operation. The LCSO said that it was the first reverse sting operation of 2019, and police seized $1,290 during the operation. The identities of the arrested men were included in the press statements.