The typical alleged sex buyer caught in a recent local sting was a married man between ages 31 and 40 with at least a high school education and a job, according to the Cook County Sheriff's office data.

At the same time, about half the men had prior criminal records, data showed.

More than 100 men in Cook County were swept up in a Jan. 18 to Feb. 5 sheriff's office raid that was conducted as part of its National Johns Suppression Initiative. Lansing and Matteson police officers assisted with the effort in their communities.

The demographic make-up of the local men mirrors national data on sex buyers collected by the sheriff's office for the last five years.

National data was not available for women involved in sex work. But in Cook County, the typical seller of sex is a woman who has used hard drugs, been a victim of physical or sexual abuse and entered the world of prostitution before she was 21, according to sheriff's office data.

Nearly half of the sex workers who came in contact with the sheriff's office between 2012 and 2016 also reported having some type of mental illness — most commonly depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.

"Sex buyers are often educated and of means while the victims are frequently burdened by addiction and coerced or forced into selling sex before they could even legally drink alcohol," the report states.

Dart says he's committed to combating sex trafficking despite challenges Zak Koeske

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has waged a highly publicized crusade against prostitution in recent years — targeting johns who enable the sex trade and websites that host online sex ads. But he acknowledged the problem is increasing in the Southland.

Dart said he is mostly powerless to fight the...

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has waged a highly publicized crusade against prostitution in recent years — targeting johns who enable the sex trade and websites that host online sex ads. But he acknowledged the problem is increasing in the Southland.

Dart said he is mostly powerless to fight the...

(Zak Koeske)

The sheriff's office generated the report using demographic information collected from approximately 3,500 solicitation busts made by more than 80 cooperating law enforcement agencies across the country over the past six years, and interviews and anonymous surveys with 172 local individuals who self-identified as being involved in prostitution.

Matteson Police Chief Michael Jones, whose department has participated in the sheriff's sting operation for the past couple years, said he's seen prostitution in the village drop after word got out that cops were conducting stings at area hotels.

Jones said he partners with the sheriff's office on the stings because he believes that wherever prostitution flourishes, other crimes are often not far behind. The village's location — off Interstate 57 — and its multiple hotels also were motivating factors for his participation in the initiative.

"Prostitution brings another number of dangerous elements of crimes," he said. "Drugs, assaults, things of that nature."

Backpage shuts down adult section, citing government pressure it calls censorship Matt Hamilton

Backpage.com, one of the world’s largest classified ad websites and a frequent target in the political battle against sex trafficking, closed its adult ads section Monday in the United States, claiming to be the victim of a government witch hunt.

The extraordinary move came shortly after the release...

Backpage.com, one of the world’s largest classified ad websites and a frequent target in the political battle against sex trafficking, closed its adult ads section Monday in the United States, claiming to be the victim of a government witch hunt.

The extraordinary move came shortly after the release...

(Matt Hamilton)

Jones declined to reveal specifics of the operation, so as not to tip off solicitors, but said the sheriff's office typically posts ads online to bait sex buyers. Female officers posing as prostitutes then communicate with the interested buyers and arrange a meeting time at a local hotel. When the john expresses his desire to have sex in exchange for money, a team of waiting officers enters the room to confront him, Jones said.

The 101 men caught in the most recent operation received ordinance violations rather than arrests, sheriff's office spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said.

The violations, which result in a $500 fine and an additional $670 vehicle impound and tow fee, if the individual drove a vehicle to the illicit rendezvous, are seen as a greater deterrent than arrests because they hit the john in the pocketbook, Ansari said.

Fines levied in Cook County as a result of the recent 2 1/2 week sting operation totaled more than $90,000. Nationally, they exceeded $1.1 million.

Sheriff Tom Dart, who has long made sex trafficking and prostitution a focus of his administration, launched the National Johns Suppression Initiative in 2011 with the operating assumption that by arresting or fining sex buyers, demand for prostitution would decrease.

Each year, the sheriff's office coordinates with law enforcement agencies across the country to conduct two stings, one around Super Bowl time, when there is an uptick in sex trafficking, and another in the summer.

zkoeske@tribpub.com

Twitter @ZakKoeske

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