Scranton, PA
Categories:
Tactics Used |
|
|---|---|
| Auto Seizure | ✓ |
| Buyer Arrests | ✓ |
| Cameras | ✓ |
| Community Service | ✓ |
| Employment Loss | ✓ |
| Identity Disclosure | ✓ |
| IT Based Tactics | ✓ |
| John School | ✓ |
| Letters | ✓ |
| License Suspension | ✓ |
| Neighborhood Action | ✓ |
| Public Education | ✓ |
| Reverse Stings | ✓ |
| SOAP Orders | ✓ |
| Web Stings | ✓ |
Scranton is a city of approximately 77,000 residents, located in northeast Pennsylvania’s Lackawanna County near Wilkes-Barre. Local law enforcement has reported a wide range of crimes and other problems related to prostitution for decades, and residents have complained to police about prostitution in certain neighborhoods. International and domestic sex trafficking networks and rings have also operated in Scranton since at least the 1980s, and probably before. In the 1980s and 1990s, the city was also identified as a stop on an interstate prostitution/trafficking circuit that ran through central Pennsylvania and upstate New York. Prostitution-related homicides have also occurred in the city. In response to concerns about prostitution and sex trafficking, and the numerous other offenses invariably associated with it, police have targeted consumer-level demand for commercial sex. The Scranton Police Department has conducted street-level reverse stings since 2003, and distributed the names of the sex buyers arrested during the operations to the public.
Key Partners
- Scranton Police Department
- Lackawanna County Sheriff’s Department
Key Sources
Reverse Stings:
- “Ten Men Arrested in Sex Sting; South Scranton Targeted for Prostitution”, Scranton Times-Tribune, June 25 2006.
- “Prostitution Sting Ends with Arrest for Felony”, Scranton Times-Tribune, March 31 2007.
Sex Trafficking and Child Sexual Exploitation in the Area:
- “Sex a Prize in Bar Lottery”, Philadelphia Daily News, January 10 1983.
- “Feds Charge Massage Parlors”, Scranton Times-Tribune, May 18 2011.
- “Men Coerced Teens into Prostitution, Police Say”, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, October 11 2013.
- “Pittston Men Indicted on Child Sex Trafficking, Child Porn Charges”, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, December 3 2013.
- “Pittston Pair Hit with Federal Prostitution Indictment”, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, December 3 2013.
- “Police Blotter”, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, December 3 2013.
- “Scranton Man Charged with Sex Trafficking of Minor”, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, August 27 2014.
- “Scranton Man Charged with Sex Trafficking of a Minor”, Shippensburg News-Chronicle, September 12 2014.
- “Federal Grand Jury Indicts Two Scranton Men on Child Sex Trafficking Charges,” Scranton Times-Tribune, May 12 2015.
- “Five Charged with Prostitution Offenses at Area Motels,” Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, July 14 2015.
- “Allentown Man Admits Forcing Women into Sex Trafficking Ring,” Allentown Morning Call, October 30 2015.
- https://www.justice.gov/man-convicted-attempted-online-enticement-and-sex-trafficking-child (2022)
- https://patch.com/pennsylvania/sex-trafficker-gets-17-years-federal-prison (2022)
Background on Prostitution in the Area:
- “Scranton Police Find Alleged Prostitute High, in Labor”, Scranton Times-Tribune, August 17 2010.
- “Scranton Police: Woman Propositioned Off-Duty Officer”, Scranton Times-Tribune, May 12 2011.
- “Kingston Woman Accused of Propositioning Undercover Scranton Cop”, Scranton Times-Tribune, June 30 2011.
- “City Police Take in Two Alleged Prostitutes at Clarion Hotel”, Scranton Times-Tribune, December 9 2011.
- “South Side Prostitute Arrested After Undercover Sting”, Scranton Times-Tribune, July 20 2012.
- “Cops Bust Woman for Prostitution Downtown”, Scranton Times-Tribune, August 31 2012.
- “Woman Charged with Prostitution”, Scranton Times-Tribune, January 9 2013.
- “Five Plead Guilty in Prostitution Sting”, Scranton Times-Tribune, May 31 2014.
- https://m.thetimes-tribune.com/alleged-prostitute-in-attorney-sextortion-case-back-in-jail (2022)
Documented Violence Against Individuals Engaged in Prostitution in the Area:
- “Hearings Delayed for Suspects in Homicide; Arguments Center on Whether Three Accused in Death of Prostitute Should Have Joint Hearing or Three Separate Ones”, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, April 2 1997.
- “Woman Who Partied with Slain Prostitute Testifies; Three Men Charged in the Killing Are Given Preliminary Hearing”, Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, June 10 1997.
- “Couple Allegedly Beaten, Held Hostage after Craigslist Meeting”, ABC/WNEP-TV 16, April 24 2014.
| State | Pennsylvania |
| Type | City |
| Population | 76997 |
| Location |
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