Full Notification

The Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Taskforce, along with deputies from Compton Sheriff’s Station, Community Partnerships Bureau and the Emergency Operations Bureau, conducted a human trafficking operation in the cities of Compton and Lynwood on Wednesday, April 3, 2019. During the operation, Sheriff’s personnel arrested 38 adults.
 
Eight adult females were arrested for the charge of Loitering for the Purposes of Prostitution and five adult females were arrested for Solicitation of Prostitution after they solicited sex for money from undercover Sheriff’s Detectives. Each of them were offered victim-centered services from the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (C.A.S.T.) as well as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD). Two females, one a 16 year old runaway, were identified as victims of Human Trafficking and were rescued. The 16 year old was released to the Department of Children and Family Services. The adult accepted ongoing services from CAST. Five of the females arrested accepted ongoing services from LEAD and one was booked at the Century Regional Detention Facility.
 
Twenty six of those arrested were male adults who solicited undercover Sheriff’s deputies for various sex acts. One of the males was additionally charged with indecent exposure after exposing himself to an undercover deputy in the course of propositioning her. One of the males was additionally charged with misdemeanor child abuse after deputies discovered his infant child was with him in the car at the time he solicited the sex act. His child was released to the Department of Children and Family Services.
 
An eighteen month old infant was taken into custody by the Department of Children and Family Services after deputies discovered the child in the company of his mother, a commercial sex worker on Long Beach Boulevard.     
 
Jerome Spears, MB/40, from Los Angeles was arrested for Pandering after he attempted to recruit an undercover Sheriff’s deputy to work for him as a commercial sex worker. He remains in custody at the Century Regional Detention Facility.  
 
The operation included task force partners from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (F.B.I.), the District Attorney’s Office (LADA), the California Highway Patrol (CHP), Los Angeles Unified School Police (LAUSD), State Parole, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) the Los Angeles County Probation Department, Saving Innocence, and the Department of Children and Family Services.
 
 
Anyone with information related to this operation is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Human Trafficking Bureau Lt. Barry Hall 323-526-5134. If you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call "Crime Stoppers" by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google play or the Apple App Store or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.
 
 
The Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Human Trafficking Bureau houses the LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, the nation’s largest co-located human trafficking task force.  The Task Force is a collaboration of federal, state, county and local law enforcement, social service agency and non-government and community-based organizations investigating and serving the needs of commercially exploited adults and minors victimized for the purpose of sex and labor.
 
The LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force brings together systems and disciplines to address the victim’s needs through a victim centered, trauma informed approach.  The task force employs a regionalized strategy that crosses jurisdictional boundaries to identify and rescue victims while aggressively pursuing traffickers and buyers.
 
 
LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force Partners: 
Federal
United States Attorney’s Office
Homeland Security Investigations
Federal Bureau of Investigation
United States Marshals Service
United States Department of Labor 
State
California Attorney General
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (State Parole)
California Employment Development Department
California Highway Patrol
County
LA County Sheriff’s Department
LA County District Attorney’s Office (DA & DA Investigator)
Department of Children and Family Services
LA County Probation Department
LA County Department of Public Health 
 
City
Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office
Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department
Pomona Police Department 
Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office
 
Non-Government/Community Based Organizations
Alafia Mental Health
Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
Human Trafficking Legal Network
iEmpathize
Journey Out
Northridge Hospital Center for Assault Services
San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center
Saving Innocence
The Guardian Group (Hotel/Motel Outreach, Education and Signage)
Los Angeles County Sheriff Clergy Council
Pet Prescriptions Therapy Dog Program
Demand Abolition Cease Network
Restoration Diversion Services
Virtuous Women Inc.
Zoe International
 
 
 
Forwarded by:
Deputy Grace Medrano
Sheriff’s Information Bureau – Newsroom
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Hall of Justice - First floor 
211 W. Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-229-1700
 
Website LASD HQ: http://www.lasd.org
Recruitment LASD: http://www.careers.lasd.org
Follow LASD HQ via Text and Email: http://www.Nixle.com
https://nixle.com/lasd---los-angeles-county-sheriffs-dept-information-bureau-sib/
Twitter: @LASDHQ http://twitter.com/LASDHQ
Twitter: @LASDespanol https://twitter.com/LASDespanol
Facebook LASD HQ http://www.facebook.com/LosAngelesCountySheriffsDepartment
Instagram LASD Photos: http://instagram.com/LASDHQ
Pinterest LASD Photos: http://pinterest.com/lacountysheriff/
YouTube LASD Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/LACountySheriff/videos?view=0
Alert LA County: Telephone emergency mass notification system
http://www.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/alertla
 
Text & Email, Register for LASD Nixle messages: To receive more detailed, up-to-date information via E-MAIL and/or TEXT directly from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD), sign up for "Nixle" alerts at http://www.Nixle.com and register for "LASD – Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept Information Bureau (SIB)" AND your local LASD station area. Or, to receive URGENT TEXT ALERTS ONLY, text your zip code to 888777. Standard text messaging rates may apply depending on your calling plan.
 
"If You See Something, Say Something"
LA Crime Stoppers: Partner to prevent or report crime by contacting your local Sheriff’s station. Or if you prefer to provide information anonymously, you may call "Crime Stoppers" by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google play or the Apple App Store or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.
 
Alex Villanueva, Sheriff
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department