Wichita Falls is a city of approximately 105,000 residents, located in northern Texas. It is the county seat of Wichita County, TX, and the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area.  Its central business district is five miles  from Sheppard Air Force Base, the largest technical training wing and a NATO jet pilot training program. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in unincorporated areas of the county.  This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses. Among the more serious problems associated with commercial sex in the area include child sex trafficking. For example, in 2014 several suspects in a prostitution and human trafficking investigation were arrested, and charged with compelling prostitution by a juvenile and trafficking of a person. Police reported that a routine traffic stop led to the arrests of two people who were apart of an organized prostitution ring working in Wichita Falls, Vernon and other areas. A DPS Trooper says he searched the vehicle and found maps, hotel book coupons, and other items that led him to believe the two were part of a prostitution ring. DPS and the Department of Homeland Security launched an investigation, and said the two were advertising escort services on a website, and that the female suspect assisted the male to” recruit and train” a juvenile in their prostitution service.

There have also been local sex trafficking cases linked to the production of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM, also called “child pornography” in many state criminal codes).  For example, in March, 2022, a Wichita Falls woman who was arrested in an alleged sex trafficking and “child pornography” case last year was sentenced to prison in a plea deal for eight of her nine charges. She was were arrested after a year-long DPS investigation that started in July 2020. Her co-defendant had a 16-count indictment alleging sex trafficking, possession of child pornography and promotion of lewd images of a child. According to their arrest affidavits, the investigation began when DPS agents in the Houston area were trying to recover a child, who was later found with the defendants. As part of the investigation, DPS officials recovered a cell phone and later found nude photos and videos of the child being sexually assaulted.  The phone also reportedly had online escort ads of the female defendant. The male defendant admitted to obtaining money previously from the prostitution of his conspirator in Wichita Falls. Investigators believe they were going to post sex escort ads of the child, and that they were going to make money off of the victim on these online sex escort websites.

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. For example, in July, 2017, three men were arrested during a reverse sting  Wichita Falls, when they showed up after being contacted by a cooperating witness working with the Wichita Falls Police Department’s Organized Crime Unit. Investigators said of the men each agreed to pay between $80 to $130 dollars, depending on the sexual act. In October 2017, a joint sting operation involving Texas DPS, several local law enforcement agencies, and the FBI targeting online child predators resulted in ten Wichita Falls area suspects being arrested and placed in the Wichita County jail.  Four were charged with compelling prostitution from victims under age 18, and six were charged with online solicitation of a minor.  The identities of the men were publicly disclosed.