Worley is a town of about 260 residents in Kootenai County, Idaho, close to the state’s Western border with Washington.  The town is within the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation, and located near the cities of Spokane WA and Coeur d’Alene, ID.  Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been well-documented in the town and throughout the region. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates have produced complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses.

While police responses have focused largely on investigating the supply and distribution components of the market (i.e., pimps, traffickers, and providers of commercial sex), there have been arrests of sex buyers that create the demand driving all such markets. For example, in April, 2015 nine people were arrested during a multi-agency operation targeted prostitution at Coeur d’Alene Casino, located in tribal lands in the town of Worley.  Coeur d’Alene Casino management had seen an increase in activities which indicated an increase in prostitution activity within the casino and the attached resort hotel areas. They contacted Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police for help. Information from Washington law enforcement revealed some of the people seen by casino security were suspected prostitutes and their customers. The Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police involved the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI to handle shared jurisdictional issues. The goal of the operation was to reduce the number of active prostitutes operating within Kootenai County, and more specifically the Coeur d’Alene Casino.  Over the two-night operation, nine arrests were made; eight adult females were charged with prostitution and one male was charged with solicitation of prostitution. Investigators believe more arrests could have been made, but after the first night, several social media posts were being made warning of the “prostitution sting” at the Casino. The identity of the sex buyer and other arrestees were publicly disclosed.