An anti-human trafficking operation at San Diego Comic-Con resulted in 14 people being arrested, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday.
From July 25 to July 27, the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force conducted a human trafficking sting “aimed at recovering victims of sex trafficking and targeting sex buyers using the San Diego Comic-Con Convention to seek out potential victims,” according to a release from the California Department of Justice. Ten victims were recovered and offered services.
“Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large scale events such as Comic-Con to exploit their victims for profit,” said Bonta. “These arrests send a clear message to potential offenders that their criminal behavior will not be tolerated. We are grateful to all our dedicated partners involved in the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, whose collaboration has been invaluable. We take great pride in our office’s commitment to uplifting vulnerable Californians by offering them assistance and guidance when they need it most.”
The largest comic and pop culture convention in the world, San Diego Comic-Con draws some 100,000 people to the downtown Convention Center each year.
“There is no more insidious crime than human trafficking,” said San Diego Sheriff Kelly Martinez. “The coercion and violence which enslaves people for profit and places them into forced labor or sex is criminal. As the Sheriff I support the efforts of all our justice partners in holding perpetrators accountable. I appreciate the focus that was placed on the recent convention to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking.”
Law enforcement personnel went undercover as sex buyers to arrest traffickers and recover potential victims of human trafficking. They also posted undercover ads soliciting sex to arrest sex buyers. By the end of the operation, nine potential adult victims and one 16-year-old juvenile were recovered.
“The San Diego Police Department is a proud member of the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force,” said San Diego Police Chief Wahl. “Working together, teams identified and arrested more than a dozen individuals participating in these illegal acts in our City over the weekend. This successful operation recovered 10 victims of human trafficking, including a girl of just 16 years old. These results show our collective dedication to combatting human trafficking and holding criminals accountable are working.”
“San Diego proudly hosts special events like Comic-Con – highly attended events like these allow us to showcase our growing and beautiful city,” said Christopher Davis, acting special agent in charge for HSI San Diego. “However, when people use these events as an opportunity to prey upon minors, HSI and our law enforcement partners will find you and bring you before a court of law to face criminal charges. There is no place for alleged predators to operate in our city and HSI is committed to helping the victims of these crimes.”
Variety has reached out to Comic-Con International for comment.
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