By now we’ve all heard that sex trafficking is happening right under our noses. But an ongoing investigation in California proves that it’s just a little closer to home than any of us would like to imagine.
Earlier this summer, 13 young girls and women were rescued from one of the largest sex trafficking rings on the West Coast.
It all began with a missing teenager, whose disappearance was reported to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office in late 2016.
The teen was rescued in January from a West Hollywood apartment.
Her discovery launched a full-fledged investigation, which led detectives from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to a massive sex trafficking ring that spanned across parts of California and into Nevada.
Investigators found apartment units in more than a dozen communities that were being rented and used as brothels.
“Years ago, a human trafficking case of this magnitude was not likely,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said. “We knew the more we looked, the more we would find.”