Law enforcement authorities released information about a massive operation targeting human traffickers that led to more than 500 arrests.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said in a media briefing Monday that police had arrested 539 people in the criminal operation.
“Human trafficking and child exploitation are devastating crimes that prey on some of the most vulnerable members of our community,” the sheriff said.
Police rescued 54 adults and 11 children from exploitation during the action dubbed Operation Reclaim and Rebuild, he added. 40 of the arrested were suspected “sexual traffickers or exploiters” while another 271 arrested were suspected “sex buyers.” Among those rescued was a 14-year-old girl.
He went on to say that the operation was in its tenth year and ended in January, known as human trafficking awareness month, but that police worked all year to arrest human traffickers.
Joining Luna at the media briefing was controversial Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who won his position with financial help from left-wing billionaire George Soros. Residents of Los Angeles have vehemently criticized Soros over soft prosecutorial policies that they say have led to an increase in crime.
The operation included more than 95 local, state, and federal agencies, including the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force.
Alan Smyth, the CEO of human trafficking advocacy group Saving Innocence, said that his group saw an uptick in human trafficking ahead of the World Series baseball championships in Los Angeles in 2020, and they expected to see the same ahead of the NFL Super Bowl.
Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva said the purpose of the operation was to “send a message to pimps, exploiters and buyers that it is unacceptable to buy another human being for sexual purposes.”
Here’s a local news report about the arrests:
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