Austin is a city of roughly 965,000 residents, situated in central Texas’ Travis County. Cases of sex trafficking– involving both adult and minor victims– have been investigated in the city, and prostitution has been identified as a longstanding problem for certain neighborhoods for decades. Prostitution-related homicides, and a wide range of other serious crimes, have also been documented locally.

Among their efforts to reduce the size and scope of the city’s commercial sex market, the Austin Police Department has conducted reverse stings targeting sex buyers since at least 1985. That year, several reverse stings produced the arrests of 40 sex buyers during one week. Numerous reverse stings have been conducted over the subsequent 35+ years; at times, undercover officers have utilized cameras during sting operations to document evidence of solicitation. Since at least 1994, arrested sex buyers have had their names publicized in press. The city has considered using SOAP orders for both sex buyers and prostituted persons, but has not implemented them, to our knowledge.

More recent example include:  In June 2014, media outlets reported that at least one sex buyer had been arrested as part of a web-based reverse sting in Austin. According to reports, “the Austin Police Department posted an online advertisement in the escort section of a website used to solicit prostitution services.” The sex buyer responded to the listing and arranged to meet an undercover female officer at a north Austin hotel and pay her $60 for sex. When he arrived at the location, he was promptly arrested. The man’s name, profession, and mugshot were released to the public. In October 2018, police arrested three men for allegedly trying to pay to sexually abuse underage girls. Special agents posed as minors on the websites CityXGuide, MeetMe and Plenty of Fish. The three men were arrested after showing up at area motels along Interstate 35 to sexually assault girls in exchange for money.

In May 2019, Travis County sheriff’s deputies and state troopers arrested at least six during a prostitution sting at a North Austin hotel targeting men trying to pay for sexual abuse of male and female minors. The Texas Department of Public Safety and the Travis County sheriff’s office launched the sting May 16-17 at a hotel on Koenig Lane near Interstate 35 and U.S. 290. Law enforcement officers created accounts on a website known to be a hub for prostitution. They connected with several men who agreed to come to the hotel to sexually assault a 15-year-old girl for prices ranging from $30 to $75. After investigators communicated with the men online, they waited for them to show up to the hotel and approach a room that had been agreed upon, and then officers moved in to arrest them. All six men were charged with second-degree felony prostitution, punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000. One man admitted texting a 15-year-old for sex but that the teenager was actually an undercover officer, and had voluntarily written a letter apologizing to the fictional teen’s father.

In March, 2022, two men were arrested on charges of solicitation of prostitution during a web-based reverse sting conducted by the Austin Police Department, Human Trafficking Unit.  One of the men was an Austin Fire Department firefighter. An APD detective placed an ad on a website known to be used to purchase sexual acts. The detective identified himself as a 16-year-old girl. The affidavit stated the firefighter agreed to pay the detective posing as the girl $400 cash for a sexual act, and agreed to meet at a hotel near U.S. 290 and U.S. 183. When he arrived at the hotel room, he was arrested by APD.

John School

In December 2016, Travis County commissioners voted to start a “John School” program aimed at educating men arrested for paying for sex. The John School program would be another option for first-time offenders arrested for the crime to avoid jail time. The program is comprised of an eight hour class that costs $250. Those funds are slated to go toward helping victims of prostitution. The school is not open to people who commit crimes involving minors. County staff project that the fees should cover the costs of the classes. The fees should also generate money for the Phoenix Court, a program designed for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation.

Although John Schools had been previously implemented in Dallas and Waco on an ad hoc basis using prosecutorial discretion, it was not until years later that they were specifically authorized by state law. In 2011, Texas House Bill 1994 passed, authorizing the use of programs involving sex buyer education at the local level for eligible first-time offenders. The bill defines “first offender prostitution prevention program” as a program with certain essential characteristics and sets out the powers and duties of a such programs. The bill establishes eligibility for offenders to participate and grants authorization to collect a fee for the program. In order to be an authorized program, the bill requires that it has (1) integration of services in the processing of cases in the judicial system; (2) the use of a non-adversarial approach involving prosecutors and defense attorneys to promote public safety, to reduce the demand for the commercial sex trade and trafficking of persons by educating offenders, and to protect the due process rights of program participants; (3) early identification and prompt placement of eligible participants in the program; (4) access to information, counseling, and services relating to sex addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health, and substance abuse; (5) a coordinated strategy to govern program responses to participant compliance; (6) monitoring and evaluation of program goals and effectiveness; (7) continuing interdisciplinary education to promote effective program planning, implementation, and operations; and (8) development of partnerships with public agencies and community organizations. In order to be eligible to participate in a first offender program, the attorney representing the state consents to the defendant’s participation in the program, and the court in which the criminal case is pending finds that the defendant has not been previously convicted of a felony or previous prostitution-related offense. A defendant is not eligible to participate in the program if they offered or agreed to hire a minor under the age of eighteen at the time of the offense. The curriculum must provide each participant with information, counseling, and services relating to sex addiction, sexually transmitted diseases, mental health, substance abuse, and classroom instruction related to the prevention of prostitution. Successful completion of the program results in a dismissal if the defendant has not been previously convicted of a felony offense, and is not convicted of any other felony offenses before the second anniversary of the defendant’s successful completion of the program.

Loss of Employment:

Loss of employment is another consequence of buying sex that has occurred within the city. For example, in October of 2020, the Beaumont Police Department, along with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, conducted a two-day prostitution operation with assistance from both the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office and McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, focused on targeting sex traffickers and sex buyers in the area. The investigation resulted in the arrest of 26 male sex buyers, two of which were doctors from Beaumont, TX. The arrest of one of the two doctors resulted in the immediate, temporary suspension of his medical license without notice, by the Texas Medical Board. The Texas Medical Board’s disciplinary panel determined that allowing the doctor to continue practicing medicine would pose a threat to public welfare. The second doctor arrested was a psychiatrist that had a history of criminal activity that resulted in the suspension of his license in 2011 by the Texas Medical Board. According to reports from the Texas Medical Board’s website, the psychiatrist’s medical license was temporarily suspended in January of 2011 as a result of a series of complaints from three women – two of whom were patients and one of which was the mother of a juvenile patient. The Medical Board summarized the complaints and their findings in the statement,  The psychiatrist’s license was reinstated in April of 2011, but only after he fulfilled several requirements, one of which was, ironically, for the psychiatrist to undergo an evaluation by another psychiatrist. No further information has been released regarding the status of the sex buyer’s medical license upon his arrest in 2020 for prostitution charges.