Zanesville is a city of about 25,000 residents located along Interstate 70 just east of Columbus in the state of Ohio. Police have fielded continuous complaints about prostitution from residents and businesses, and sex trafficking is known to occur in the city. In 2007, dental records identified the skeletal remains of a 21-year-old Zanesville resident who was found on the side of a rural road; the woman had an arrest record for prostitution in the Muskingum County seat, and had been missing for four months. In 2015, a Zanesville man was indicted on 46 counts including multiple human trafficking charges, 17 counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance, 11 counts of compelling prostitution, nine counts of unlawful sexual conduct, and additional counts of drug trafficking and weapons offenses.

To address such crimes and other problems related to prostitution and sex trafficking, the Zanesville Police Department and collaborating agencies have conducted street-level and web-based reverse stings. For example, in 2007, one such operation employed two female officers from another town’s police department as decoys. The departments then collaborated to form a single support team and videotaped undercover officers as they encountered potential sex buyers. Conversations were also recorded by hidden radios and relayed to team members. Over an eight-hour period, nine men were arrested and charged with solicitation. All of the sex buyers’ names, ages and home addresses were released to local news outlets. In April 2014, three ZPD officers arrested two men in a similar operation. In September 2014, after receiving several complaints from residents about prostitution activity in the Ridge Avenue area, Zanesville Police conducted another reverse sting that arrested 10 men for solicitation. When asked about the operation by members of the local media, a ZPD representative noted that they had received “continuous complaints” from individuals living in the neighborhood, and one female resident commented that “the [sex buyers] solicit every girl around here; they’re even asking women walking with children. I feel like no woman is safe.”