Pimps tried to enroll experienced prostitutes into schools to recruit younger victims, indictment says
SAN DIEGO — A federal indictment unsealed Thursday
accuses San Diego gang members of running a cross-country
sex-trafficking ring that preyed on teenage girls from East County
schools and used violence and drugs to coerce them into prostitution.
Twenty-two
gang members and associates are charged with a racketeering conspiracy
for their alleged roles in what was described as a lucrative operation,
authorities announced Thursday. Most were arrested in a series of predawn raids.
About 100 victims, some as young as 12, were
identified during the two-year investigation, officials said. Some
girls were ensnared by promises of money and a lavish lifestyle, while
others were forced through violence or threats to sell sex, according to
U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. Vulnerable victims, such as runaways and
girls from broken homes, were ideal candidates for recruitment, the
court records state.
In
one instance, according to the indictment, two defendants discussed on
Facebook beating up a prostituted victim who got pregnant to get rid of
the baby. Another victim had her jaw broken, the document states.
“These are girls who have their lives ahead of them, they look forward to this beautiful full life,” Duffy said.
“But
those who exploit those dreams, they’re stealing the souls of these
children and these young girls, and they’re doing so by crushing them
with false promises, crushing them with physical abuse, emotional abuse
and sexual slavery — the kind of sexual slavery that leaves scars for a
lifetime.”
The
girls were recruited through social media, at parties and at various
middle and high schools in the East County. On at least one occasion,
Duffy said, a pimp tried to enroll an older, more experienced prostitute
into a school to recruit younger victims.
The
investigation, led by the Sheriff’s Department and dubbed “Operation
Stolen Souls,” was kicked off by the rescue of a few sex-trafficking
victims found attending an alternative school.
Investigators
said school officials and parents helped by reporting red flags: girls
coming to school with unexplained expensive items, frequent absences,
bruising or other injuries, relationships with known gang members. At
least one parent even reported seeing a daughter offering sex for money
on a website, an official said.
Local school districts have collaborated with investigators on the emerging problem for several years, work that paid off with Thursday’s arrests.
“We worked with law enforcement on this investigation,” Grossmont Union High School District spokeswoman Catherine Martin said Thursday. “We helped identify victims.”
District
officials began to train staff in recognizing signs of at-risk children
and how to intervene in 2009, when San Diego County was identified by
the FBI as a top location in the nation for sex trafficking, mostly by
street gangs.
“It’s a national problem,” Martin said.
She
said the district even produced a manual, with a Department of
Education grant, that lays out specifics on sex trafficking and how
schools can work with police.
“Everyone
needs to get involved,” urged Joe Garcia, interim special agent in
charge of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego. “It’s
happening right in front of us, in plain sight.”
The
indictment says the defendants are part of a relatively new gang called
Tycoons, formed in 2008 by four members, which grew to include others
from various San Diego street gangs. Duffy said the gang is comprised of
three subsets but works together like “a family,” with each group
performing supporting roles to the sex-trafficking operation. Lemon
Grove and Spring Valley are considered their bases of operation, the
indictment says.
The
indictment says some members managed prostitutes, others recruited
them, some controlled the girls through acts of violence while others
distributed drugs and committed other crimes — from attempted murder to
robberies. Some victims were trafficked as far away as Michigan, Kansas,
Arizona, Nevada and Texas, officials said.
Many
of the gang’s members also consider themselves rappers and use the
music to promote the pimping lifestyle, recruit new members and gain
status, authorities said.
This
is the third time the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego has targeted
gang-run sex-trafficking organizations with the racketeering law.
Previous cases involved operations in Oceanside and North Park.
Thursday’s
raids involved more than 150 law enforcement officers from state, local
and federal agencies. Seven of the defendants were already in custody
on unrelated charges. One of the 22 indicted remains at large.
Most of those arrested are in their 20s.
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