Attorney General Releases Report on 1,800 Arrested Sex Buyers in Ohio
In June, 2026, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost released the state’s first-ever state-wide report on sex buyers in an attempt to influence tougher laws.
“For far too long, victims bore the blame for sex trafficking,” Yost said. “But that blame really belongs to sex buyers – they’re the ones fueling the illicit trade. Without the demand, sex trafficking doesn’t exist.”
The report gives a snapshot of the traits of sex buyers, noting that they are almost exclusively male, and are disproportionately white, employed, educated, and unmarried. Their ages and professions vary widely. A key takeaway message about the profile of sex buyers is that, aside from gender, there are no demographic or socioeconomic traits that are predictive. Sex buyers are represented in any male population. The report also found:
For a majority (70%), online platforms provide primary access.
High-frequency buyers make up most transactions (about 75%).
One of every two sex buyers has tried to stop the behavior.
The report does stress the top three counties have the highest concentrations of human trafficking tasks forces running several operations and stings.
The report emphasizes that police operations always find sex buyers and yield numerous arrests, but courts seldom impose higher levels of punishment allowed by state law. While the average sentence was 52 days in jail, the average time actually served in jail was just 7 days.
This report, entitled “The Drivers of Demand: Tracking Ohio’s Sex Buyers and Their Criminal Consequences,” is a valuable addition to the thin research literature about sex buyers and tactics used to combat consumer demand. It comes at a time when virtually no state or federal resources are devoted to learning more about the population primarily responsible for all sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation, nor about the effectiveness of law enforcement efforts intended to deter, detect, or sanction them.
Previously released reports and resources on sex buyers and efforts to eliminate demand for commercial sex that you may find helpful include: