Anonymous
By the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office
On October 26th and 27th, 2022, Detectives from the Ventura County Human Trafficking Task Force (VCHTTF) participated in Human Trafficking Operations in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Detectives identified areas that have had sex trafficking activity in the past and set up sting operations with an emphasis on rescuing victims of sex trafficking, identifying, and arresting their traffickers, and contacting commercial sex customers- commonly referred to as “Johns.”
Over the course of two days, detectives communicated with multiple victims with the hope of providing them resources to get out of the lifestyle. Detectives also posed as commercial sex workers on various web sites and communicated with multiple “Johns” who were seeking commercial sex in exchange for money.
Overall, ten arrests were made for various criminal violations including solicitation of prostitution, possession of a firearm, and possession of a controlled substance for sales.
A total of 6 victims were contacted and connected with local victim resources in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.
The Ventura County Human Trafficking Task Force is comprised of two full time Sheriff’s Detectives supported by representative detectives from each law enforcement agency in Ventura County and several victim service providers. The VCHTTF investigates both labor and sex trafficking occurring in Ventura County. Many human trafficking groups operate regionally and transport their victims to different areas to avoid law enforcement detection. VCHTTF Detectives have established close working relationships with nearby task forces in an attempt to stop trafficking from occurring in our counties and continue to strengthen intra-agency bonds through collaboration. The collaborating agencies were the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Santa Barbara Human Trafficking Task Force.
These operations are done to raise awareness to the commercial sex customers. Often the customers are paying for sexual acts to individuals who are sexually exploited and trafficked against their will. The task force hopes to raise this type of awareness to the community as a whole and detectives believe that these proactive enforcement efforts are crucial in our fight against the human trafficking industry.
Detectives encourage you to contact “211” or local law enforcement to be connected with services, if you believe you are a victim or know a victim of human trafficking.
Trafficking is worse than you think. Many women are brought here not for sex, rather told they’re going to college. Once here they’re told if they don’t “work” their family will be murdered back at home. When police offer them resources to freedom, most decline fearing their family will still be murdered. They even decline a plane flight back home. It’s really not about the “Johns”.
It’s a CARTEL BUSINESS.
Each case is different and this is pure sensationalism. Many sex workers are freely choosing their work and are not being “trafficked”. If you really care about “trafficking” you need to look at forced labor and debt bondage. These have nothing to do with sex, are brutal and don’t get the attention of sex work.
Most civilized countries have legalized and regulated sex work and the US should, too. Yes, there is some human trafficking for sex. But this would largely go away with legalizing and regulating (and taxing) sex work.
What’s the names!!!????
Good, Put their names out there. Shame them.
Put the traffickers in the wood chipper.
Get the victims help.
This is so disgusting ! Lock the traffickers up for LIFE !
I agree Fondo, but non of the arrests were for actual sex trafficking. Sounds like they just caught some Johns. Ventura County Human Trafficking Task Force should be taking down the actual traffickers.
Wait, were these just lonely chumps paying for consensual sex or were they actively engaged in trafficking?
As usual, just the Johns…….. No actual human traffickers. At least they offered help to the women but man, I wish they’d stop titling things this way and tooting their horns when really, it ain’t much.
lonely guys paying for consensual sex. pretty f’n stupid that they act like this is some major trafficking bust when they didn’t even catch a trafficker….just a guy wanting a cheap BJ. seems like entrapment to me too. chances are all fo them will walk and it won’t be a charge that sticks. these “stings” are rarely legit and tend to not hold up in any court. hence the term i mentioned….entrapment.
doesn’t negate that there are some victims perhaps, but frankly after them posting an inflated lie, i would question if these are victims or ladies just working the oldest profession known to man….
What they’re doing is still illegal in California.
They should just make prostitution legal already and put some basic regulations in place. It would greatly reduce sex trafficking, empower the workers, and make things considerably safer for them by bringing it out of the shadows, allow them operate in a safer environment and to call police without worry if things got out of hand. In addition to the other benefits of allowing the John’s a safe, legal way to get some release. Would the self labeled “incel” UCSB shooter still do what he did if this option was available?
The root of these fake “trafficking” depictions is special funding grants from DOJ and other organizations to local police agencies to combat human trafficking. To justify that the money is well spent and to continue getting those funds, these police agencies need to appear as if they’re making an impact, so in their reporting they will label any prostitution arrest arrests as involving trafficking.
A target more likely to yield actual victims of trafficking, coerced into their sex work, would be the many Asian massage parlors throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
OMG – “The sky is falling”! (literally)
Girls and young boys are trafficked all over the world. Promises of work and a better life. Family’s in very poor countries send their children for education and better life and boom they got them. Have seen this happen very scared for these children. Yes some do it on their own but many many are victims ofbb van others getting rich off them.
Look at all you know-it-alls chiming in yet again. HOW in the HELL would you know anything about these sex workers and if they were actually being trafficked or just there doing the oldest profession in the world? Oh yes, I forgot, you’re experts because you watch true crime shows. How in the hell would legalizing prostitution prevent Incels from murdering women? ( I think that is one of their issues, they don’t want to have to pay for attention from women, they just expect it and then get rejected by no fault of their own) I think Incels would be one of the scarier types of Johns out there since they are certified misogynists. How about all you right-to-lifers chiming in saying make prostitution legal, because it’s their body, their choice but then prevent those same women from having a legal abortion? How many of you would still want legalized prostitution if it was your wife, daughter, sister, or mother doing the sex work? Clearly, SB and Ventura counties felt the need to create these task forces to address the human trafficking issues, it’s not a waste of time or money… if it saves just one of these lives, to me it is money well spent. If the end result is to just round up all the lonely chumps looking for a cheap bj and put them on some watch list, what’s wrong with that, what if these Johns were looking for underage sex workers, Are you still okay knowing there are pedophiles out on your streets, possibly being your co-worker or employee, your neighbor or family member, what if it was your boss, best friend, doctor or lawyer? If a John is willing to be so pervy as to pay for sex, perhaps they are also corrupt in other areas of the law? Wasn’t there a handgun taken off one of these pervs and also some narcotics for sale? These may be small victories or not at all for some of you… but they are big to those of us who know how a single gun is able to maim and kill countless people and as well as drugs. Why is it such a waste of time, money, and resources if one gun and some illegal drugs were taken off the street? And what about those 6 women who were given the opportunity for some help? Those resources are funded by the same funds you think are a waste of money. I have heard there are group homes in the area for these victims to get the resources they need in order to heal and evolve… Do you think that is waste of time and money? If so, go tell that to their broken hearts and spirits, go tell that to the people whose job it is to help them, who sit there day in and out trying to reach these victims and listening to their many stories of trauma all in the hopes to reprogram their mind, body, and spirits so they can reenter society without the horrendous baggage from their previous lives. This also goes for the cops who are out there trying to help these victims, they see firsthand what horrors there are, some of these sex workers have kids, and perhaps there is some neglect or abuse going on, how about poverty, drugs, poor education, and housing, an overall lack of security… what about those other victims of sex workers, do you even consider how far reaching prostitution goes, how its tentacles affect a lot more than just what you read about here on EdHat? and what about those families of these Johns, what if you were the spouse and had no idea about this hidden side of your spouse, wouldn’t you want to know, what a horrible way to find out, after the fact. I actually feel quite bad for you jaded know-it-alls. I can clearly see how you miss the bigger picture here, it’s a shame you cannot. Anyways, none of these issues will ever be solved here, online in some chat but I hope to awaken some of you. Laws are laws for a reason. Task forces are created for a reason… just because some laws seem frivolous to you, they may mean life or death to others. Just because you may not experience some of life’s horrors doesn’t give you the right to minimize it for others. Apparently, there are some dirty deeds going down in our neck of the woods and I for one am grateful that it is being addressed.