Monaca is a borough of about 6,000 residents in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, approximately 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh and located along the Ohio River. Prostitution has been recognized as a local problem for decades throughout Beaver County, and community complaints have played a role in police operations responding to prostitution in Monaca and nearby towns such as Center Township and Beaver Falls. While most of the efforts to address prostitution in the town are directed at investigating “supply side” tactics, on at least one occasion law enforcement has targeted sex buyers for arrest. In November 2016, police reported the arrest of a single sex buyer in a reverse sting using a female police informant. Center Township Police set up surveillance at the hotel in Monaca, and communicated via text messaging and cell phone. The arrestee reportedly arranged to meet the woman at the hotel and pay her $120 for 20 to 30 minutes of sex. When he arrived, he was taken into custody and charged with several offenses including soliciting prostitution. Following his arrest, the man’s name and other identifying information were publicized in press. The man had been elected for a term on the board of the Rochester School system.

In the third annual Report on Commercial Sexual Exploitation in Pennsylvania by Villanova University’s Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation (CSE Institute), Beaver County was one of 10 Pennsylvania counties in which the number of individuals charged with violations of the state’s sex buying statute (§ 5902(e)) outnumbered the charged with violations of § 5902(a) for providing commercial sex since the state criminal code created separate offenses for buying and selling sex in 2014. The 10 counties were the following: Adams, Beaver, Bradford, Centre, Franklin, Lebanon, McKean, Mercer, Monroe, and Northampton.