Osceola County is an inland area in central Florida, south of Orlando, with a population of roughly 388,500 that includes the city of Kissimmee. Prostitution and sex trafficking of children are well-documented problems within the county.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and has therefore been targeted by local law enforcement agencies as a strategy for prevention and response. In an effort to reduce prostitution, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office conducts reverse stings – sometimes in collaboration with city police departments within its jurisdiction. The identities of the men arrested are released to local news outlets. For Example, in September 2012, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office collaborated with nearby agencies to conduct its first web-based sting, which resulted in the arrest of 11 sex buyers. The names and photos of all those arrested (sex buyers, prostituted women, and pimps) were released to the media and posted online.

Employment loss is another major local consequence of buying sex. For example, in 2016, an Osceola County School Board Official was among the 114 suspected sex buyers arrested during a web-sting conducted by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. According to reports, the sex buyer was the director of the elementary school curriculum in Osceola County. Upon learning about the sex buyer’s arrest, Osceola County Schools immediately placed the offender on leave.

Some local arrests of sex buyers are the result of allegations of crimes against real victims rather than the product of reverse stings using undercover police decoys. For example, in November of 2013, an Osceola County mother was accused of attempting to force her three teenage daughters into prostitution at a bus stop in Kissimmee. In an effort to deter sex buyers, the Kissimmee Police Department has been conducting street-level reverse stings since 1985 and continues to do so routinely.