Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer: 'Some were arrested for human trafficking, and some were arrested for child exploitation'
Kern County scored a major victory in the war against human trafficking and child sex crimes after 23 individuals were arrested as result of a four-day sting called "Operation Bad Barbie."
The Daily Independent spoke with Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer Tuesday morning about the sting and how it went down.
"There were actually two operations. One, we call it the Child Predator, and that is when a predator is attempting to contact a child online and have them meet for a lewd or sexual intent. Human trafficking is something different. That's when someone is trafficking a person, and it doesn't have to be a child, to sell them for a purpose or for sex,” Zimmer said.
The recent sting involved both types of sex crimes. Of the 23 arrested, 21 were men and two were female sex workers.
Said Zimmer, "Some were arrested for human trafficking, and some were arrested for child exploitation."
The undercover sting was held Aug. 9 through Aug. 12 and involved dozens of officers from local, state, and federal agencies including Homeland Security, the FBI and the Secret Service.
According to Zimmer, the operation involved undercover officers who engaged in chat on social media websites and dating apps with offenders.
One of the offenders arrested listed his employment as the owner of a trucking company and another said he is employed as an engineer at an oil company.
Said Zimmer, "Sexual predators can come from any walk of life."
The sting included charges for human trafficking, pimping, pandering, arranging a meeting with a minor for lewd purpose, contact with a minor with intent to commit a sex offense, abduction and possession of child pornography.
Although the recent was a victory in the battle against child sex crimes, Zimmer said the war itself continues to rage on as human trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world, and it is most prevalent in California.
One reason human trafficking is on the rise is that predators now have access to their victims via our home computers and cell phones.
Said Zimmer, "We used to be safe in our homes, and now that we have the ability to get outside our homes via the internet, kids aren't as safe. Children are immature and they make poor decisions because of a lack of life experiences. They are gullible and get talked into things. Sometimes predators are looking for children who, unfortunately, have been abused."
Zimmer said that children who are junior high age are most vulnerable and the most often approached by predators.
Zimmer said she is not aware of incidents involving child trafficking operations taking place in Ridgecrest, however she has seen a lot of cases involving sexual assaults against children come across her desk.
Said Zimmer, "But, that doesn't mean it (trafficking) hasn't happened. I know we have seen some of that in Mojave, however."
According to Dustin Contreras, co-director of the Kern Coalition Against Human Trafficking, the recent arrests can be viewed as the tip of the iceberg as he and Carol Beecroft, the coalition's other co-director, see these types of crimes every day.
Part of the battle in fighting these types of crimes is that sometimes victims won't report them for a myriad of reasons such as fear of retaliation, age and not understanding that they are being victimized by someone who they think is their boyfriend.
https://kernvalleysun.com/stories/648893907-kern-county-district-attorney-cynthia-zimmer-some-were-arrested-for-human-trafficking-and-some-were-arrested-for-child-exploitation