Crime & Safety

Cook County Sheriff's Office Leads National Sex Crime Sting

Twenty law enforcement agencies in eight states participated in the second "National Day of Johns Arrests," resulting in the arrest of 565 individuals.

More than 500 individuals were arrested between Jan. 28 and Feb. 6 in a nationwide sex crime sting led by the Cook County Sheriff's Office, authorities announced Tuesday.

Twenty law enforcement agencies in eight different states participated in the second "National Day of Johns Arrests," which included sting activities conducted on the streets, in hotels and brothels, and via the Internet. A total of 324 sex buyers, also known as "Johns," were arrested and charged with nearly $475,000 in fines, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced.

Across the country, the sting resulted in 565 arrests, 667 total charges and 114 vehicles towed, according to a news release.

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“Large sporting events, such as the Super Bowl, bring out competitiveness in all of us, including, unfortunately, buyers of sex and pimps/sex traffickers,” Dart said. “In the days leading up to and including Super Bowl Sunday, my office coordinated with 19 other law enforcement agencies from around the country to send a strong message that our communities refuse to tolerate the purchase of human beings for sex. Although we are all proud of the hard work our agencies put into this operation, the numbers below speak to the unfortunate reality that there is still work ahead of us to solve the problem completely.”

According to the release, the sweep resulted in:

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  • 314 men arrested for soliciting sex
  • 227 misdemeanor arrests (including prostitution)
  • 2 human trafficking arrests
  • 5 pimping arrests
  • 3 pandering arrests
  • 4 theft arrests
  • 10 arrests for possession/delivery of drugs
  • 12 weapons charges

Participating law enforcement agencies included:

  • Cook County Sheriff's Office (lead coordinating agency)
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation, Chicago Division (Orland Park, IL)
  • Aurora Police Department (Illinois)
  • Elgin Police Department (Illinois)
  • Kane County Sheriff's Office (Illinois)
  • Indianapolis Metro Police (Indiana)
  • Boston Police Department (Massachusetts)
  • Los Angeles Police Department (California)
  • Phoenix Police Department (Arizona)
  • Las Vegas Police Department (Nevada)
  • Newport News Police Department (Virginia)
  • Cincinnati Police Department (Ohio)
  • Dayton Police Department (Ohio)

The Cook County Sheriff's Office has taken the lead in coordinating the nationwide sweeps as part of an "ongoing effort to highlight the role of sex buyers as prepetrators, while providing the support for prostituted individuals through its Human Trafficking Response Team (HTRT)," the release states.

The HTRT is composed of survivors of prostitution who work closely with Cook County police officers who are trained to identify victims that have been led into prostitution out of desperation and survical. Victims are offered support services and safe housing while they transition out of the situation.

A summary of all data collected during the collaborative sting will be available later this week on the Cook County Sheriff's website and the Demand Abolition website.


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