California law enforcement officials revealed Wednesday the results of a weeklong statewide anti-human-trafficking campaign that led to more than 600 suspects arrested and roughly 170 victims rescued, including children as young as 13 years old.
The effort, dubbed “Operation Reclaim and Rebuild,” was conducted during the final week of January and involved about 80 local, state and federal agencies collaborating to target human traffickers, sex purchasers and other offenders across the state, with a significant focus on Los Angeles County.
At a news conference in downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the operation rescued more than 150 adults and 14 children, some brought from other states, and arrested hundreds of suspected traffickers and sex buyers. Authorities also seized multiple weapons during the sting.
Officials traced the investigation back to a citizen complaint in Walnut about a suspicious residential property, which led detectives to uncover multiple residential brothels. The tip eventually expanded into a large-scale probe exposing trafficking networks in numerous cities.
Sheriff Luna described human trafficking as a “multibillion-dollar industry” and said California will not be a safe haven for predators. Law enforcement vowed continued enforcement throughout the year to dismantle trafficking operations and prosecute those involved.
Deputy law enforcement officials noted that the force of the operation reflects both the scale of trafficking in the state and the necessity of interagency cooperation to protect vulnerable victims and hold offenders accountable.
