A single tip about a quiet suburban home in California sparked a massive human trafficking takedown that rescued nearly 20 children, discovered domestic brothels, and resulted in over 600 arrests statewide, police said Tuesday.
The week-long operation, known as Operation Reclaim and Rebuild, involved dozens of organizations and resulted in the rescue of 12 adults and five children in Los Angeles County alone, officials said at a news conference.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna stated that the inquiry began with a single citizen report about a strange home in Walnut. That tip prompted months of surveillance and the identification of many trafficking sites in surrounding suburban neighborhoods.
Among the 611 total arrests were suspected traffickers and hundreds of sex customers, though investigators have yet to say how many would face felony human trafficking charges rather than lesser solicitation offenses.
Officials said some of the recovered victims came from as far afield as Illinois, Oklahoma, and Missouri, highlighting the reach of the human trafficking operation.
“We have traffickers that are putting barely teenage girls on the streets of Los Angeles to be victimized, repeatedly, over and over again,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton. “These children did not come from one place. They came from Chicago, from Oklahoma, from Missouri, tribal lands… and from communities right here in the state of California.”a
Authorities have not revealed the suspects’ identities or the actual locations of the residential brothels.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman referred to the trafficking network as “modern slavery,” claiming that the county has become a key nexus for such crimes.
“How embarrassing that I could actually say that we have corridors of human sex trafficking throughout Los Angeles County,” Hochman said. “It’s also a dubious distinction that Los Angeles County is one of the epicenters of human sex trafficking in the entire nation.”
Hochman’s office is now reviewing files related to the arrests, and law enforcement officials said they will continue to monitor known trafficking corridors to prevent brothels from reopening in residential districts.
Authorities advised people to report any suspicious activities, underlining that the inquiry was initiated when one person spoke up.