Dozens of victims rescued and hundreds arrested in human-trafficking sting in California

Nearly 50 victims of human trafficking, including 14 minors, were rescued during a three-day sting operation across California last week, law enforcement officials announced Tuesday.

State and federal agencies arrested 339 people, including 156 men on suspicion of solicitation, during the coordinated effort, which involved cyber detectives posing as teenagers.

At a downtown Los Angeles news conference, Los Angeles County Assistant Sheriff Maria Gutierrez urged all parents to monitor their children’s internet use.

“Predators,” she said, “operate freely in cyberspace.”

In Los Angeles County, Gutierrez said, sheriff’s detectives arrested a 30-year-old man in connection with child pornography after finding several video clips showing the assault of a 6-year-old. In Contra Costa County, a 54-year-old man used a social media site to “groom and entice” a 14-year-old boy, she said. The man sent the boy photos of $100 bills and told him to meet the man at a park. When the man arrived, Gutierrez said, he was arrested by members of the task force, including the undercover officer who had posed as the boy online.

Since its creation in 2015, members of the L.A. Regional Human Trafficking Task Force have rescued more than 300 victims — 220 of whom were minors. The task force has arrested more than 1,500 people, including about 460 men arrested on suspicion of buying sex and more than 320 suspected pimps. The arrests, officials said, have led to the filing of 11 cases in federal court.

Last week’s sting operation, which ended on Saturday, was a collaborative effort of the L.A. task force and more than 90 other agencies across the state.

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https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-human-trafficking-task-force-20190129-story.html