A former Pennsylvania police officer in Farrell, Mercer County, Pennsylvania has been accused of buying sex while on duty. The former officer, Tyler Valimont, was charged with patronizing a prostitute, obstructing law enforcement, official oppression and two counts of evidence tampering.
Valimont allegedly contacted the prostituted person, a 27-year-old woman, via text message after seeing her on an online ad. He then allegedly met with her while he was working an overnight shift from November 7 to November 8, 2016. According to the Pennsylvania State Police Organized Crime Task Force, Valimont was in full uniform and operating a marked Farrell police cruiser. When another officer saw him, Valimont told the officer that he was “cultivating a confidential informant.”
According to police, the woman told investigators that the man had not only contacted her to buy sex, but also threatened to arrest her if she did not respond to his text messages. She responded “out of fear of arrest” and then later deleted the texts when Valimont directed her to. According to police, the woman also told investigators that Valimont had instructed her to lie if questioned by police. Additionally, the woman produced text messages that indicated Valimont had purchased sex from her in September 2016. According to Farrell City Manager Michael Ceci, Valimont was fired from the force in December 2016 for “conduct unbecoming of a police.”
The Pennsylvania State Police take great measures and lead serious efforts to combat human trafficking within the Commonwealth. In this instance, it is particularly encouraging that the Pennsylvania State Police arrested a sex buyer. Traditional law enforcement practices disproportionately focused on arresting prostituted persons in far greater numbers than buyers. According to data compiled by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts For example, from 2014-2015, in Philadelphia County, there were over 4,000 charges for “prostitution” as opposed to 1,022 charges for “patronizing prostitutes.”
This practice is a striking example of gender-based inequality. The data shows women are punished in far greater numbers than men, despite the fact that selling sex (“prostitution”) and buying sex (“patronizing prostitutes”) currently carry equivalent penalties and culpability in the eyes of the law. Meanwhile, prosecuting the prostituted person for selling sex does nothing to decrease the demand for commercial sex.
Sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation are demand driven crimes—sex can only be sold if there are people willing to buy it. The most effective way to end commercial sexual exploitation is through arrest and prosecution of those who perpetuate these crimes, just as the Pennsylvania State Police did in this case.