Yes, Sex Trafficking in Reno is an Issue.
5 Local Facts You Should Know...

When you hear the words sex trafficking, you may picture something happening somewhere else, a major city, another state, or another country. You might even picture someone being kidnapped and transported across borders.

But what about here?

Is sex trafficking in Reno really an issue?

Yes.

Local investigations, criminal prosecutions, and victim services tell a clear story: commercial sexual exploitation is happening in our community.

Here are five things Reno-area residents should know:

1. Local investigators recovered 55 victims in one year, including 18 children.

Between January 1, 2025, and January 1, 2026, the Regional Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) Unit reported recovering 55 victims from the illegal sex trade in Northern Nevada:

• 37 adult women
• 18 juvenile girls

Nearly one in three victims recovered was a child.

And sex trafficking doesn't require kidnapping. Under federal law, a minor involved in a commercial sex act is a victim of sex trafficking regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion was used.

Children in our community are among those being sexually exploited.



2. Awaken has seen the impact firsthand.

For more than a decade, Awaken has worked directly with people affected by commercial sexual exploitation in the Reno area.

To date, Awaken has reached more than 1,400 survivors through outreach and services that support safety, healing, and restoration.

Since 2017, Awaken has also provided specialized services to 183 minor victims of sex trafficking in the Reno area.

Trafficking doesn't have one look. A victim may be a child, a teenager, or an adult. Exploitation may involve a stranger, but it may also involve someone the victim knows or trusts.

There is no single profile of a trafficking victim, and no single way exploitation begins.

Learn how to recognize potential signs of sex trafficking.

3. Local investigations resulted in 143 arrests and 287 criminal charges.

Victims recovered are only one measure of the problem.

During that same one-year period, HEAT investigations resulted in:

• 143 arrests
• 287 criminal charges
• The majority of charges were felonies

The investigations involved sex trafficking, child exploitation, child sexual abuse material, solicitation, and other forms of sexual exploitation.

Sex trafficking exists within a larger environment of commercial sexual exploitation involving traffickers, buyers, online activity, and other people and places that can facilitate exploitation.

These numbers represent real investigations involving people and crimes in Northern Nevada.

4. Local cases show that victims and traffickers are right here in Reno.

Recent criminal cases demonstrate that sex trafficking isn't simply a statistic.

In 2025, the Washoe County District Attorney's Office announced the conviction of a local man on two counts of sex trafficking after evidence showed that two women had been subjected to years of abuse and trafficking in the Reno area.

In another Reno case, a defendant was convicted of two counts of sex trafficking of a minor and sentenced to life in prison, with parole eligibility after 15 years.

The victims were local. The investigations were local. The defendants were connected to our community.

5. Local investigations also reveal the demand behind sexual exploitation.

Trafficking cannot exist without a market for exploitation.

In a two-day Northern Nevada operation in 2023, 14 men were arrested after investigators posing online as juveniles reported that the men arranged to engage in sexual activity with them at a local lodging establishment.

Fourteen men arrested. Two days. One local operation.

Addressing sex trafficking means recognizing not only the people being exploited, but also the demand that creates a market for commercial sexual exploitation to thrive.