LOS ANGELES, CA — More than 500 people were arrested in a week-long anti-human trafficking operation that also saved dozens of victims including 11 youths, authorities announced this week in Los Angeles.
The statewide effort involving Los Angeles police and sheriff’s officials took 40 suspected “sexual traffickers or exploiters” off the streets, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. However, the bulk of the arrests were 271 suspected “sex buyers.”
In all, 65 victims were rescued, including a 14-year- old girl, Luna said.
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The 10th annual Operation Reclaim and Rebuild was conducted from Jan. 21-27, involved more than 95 law enforcement agencies.
“Operation Reclaim and Rebuild focuses on rescuing victims of sexual slavery and human trafficking, providing victims with much-needed services, identifying and arresting their captors, seeking successful prosecutions, and disrupting the demand for vulnerable victims by targeting their customers,” the sheriff’s department said in a written statement.
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“Human trafficking and child exploitation are devastating crimes that prey on some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” Luna said.
“This week-long operation demonstrates that if you engage in human trafficking activities, harm our children, and destroy lives, there will be absolute consequences; and there is no refuge for predators in the state of California,” Luna said.
In one Los Angeles County operation, task force personnel conducted an undercover “sex buyer” operation on a stretch of Holt Avenue in Pomona, Luna said. Twelve males, two of whom are registered sex offenders, were arrested on suspicion of solicitation of prostitution, Luna said.
In San Diego County, a 17-year-old girl was at the Parkway Plaza Mall in El Cajon when she was approached by a man who told her “she should be a model” and gave her a business card that had a phone number on it, Luna said.
The girl called the number, and she was told that she would be “doing date sex with guys at hotels.” The girl told her mother, who contacted authorities, and the suspect was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking of a minor and other offenses, Luna said.
Luna was joined at the news conference by Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, and representatives from the LAPD, the federal Department of Homeland Security and other agencies.
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City News Service contributed to this report.
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