SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — As thousands visited the Bay Area for the Super Bowl, a task force of law enforcement agencies and undercover investigators were focused on combating human trafficking.
“There was a suite of over 20 different analysts both local, state, federal, nonprofit partners that were all providing real time intelligence packets that we were disseminating out into the field to our law enforcement partners. Never been done before,” said Lt. Josh Singleton.
Lieutenant Singleton is the Commander for the Human Trafficking Task Force for the Santa Clara County DA’s office.
“Where did human trafficking happen most in the Bay?” asked ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter Luz Pena.
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“There were several hotspots- some of the hotspots that we saw as south as Salinas, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Vallejo. Ultimately human trafficking can happen anywhere and often times it happens right underneath the public eye, and they are not even aware of it,” said Lt. Singleton.
Twenty-nine traffickers were arrested and 73 sex trafficking survivors rescued, including 10 minors.
“The youngest victim we saw was 12 years old, which is extremely tragic,” said Lt. Singleton.
Law enforcement agencies don’t know if the large number of arrests happened due to an increase in trafficking or their combined efforts to stop it.
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“There haven’t been any prevalent studies done so we don’t truly know if the uptick was a result of the sporting events or just the concerted effort of all the difference agencies law enforcement, social workers, that all came together to combat human trafficking during this time,” said Lt. Singleton.
Agencies were ready to offer more help after the operations.
“The focus at the beginning is what are the basic emergency needs? Do you have shelter? Do you have food? Do you have clothing? Do you have access to urgent medical care? Mental health support. And then, once those pieces are addressed, which sometimes can take 30 days, it could take 60 days, then we develop a plan for long-term support,” said Perla Flores, Director of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Human Trafficking Programs for Community Solutions.
Investigators recovered 20 victims from San Mateo County alone. That’s where we met San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
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“So far of this operation we’ve had two cases. Only two cases submitted to us at this point. We have filed charges. One of them is a 19-year-old woman who is the trafficker. She is in our county jail facing human trafficking charges,” said DA Wagstaffe.
Despite these efforts, DA Wagstaffe said it’s difficult to prosecute the traffickers.
“We need two things. We need evidence that shows the trafficker committed the crime and number two we need a cooperative victim. That is the difficulty,” said DA Wagstaffe.
If survivors cooperate and there is evidence, District Attorney Wagstaffe said traffickers could face anywhere between 15 to 20 years to up to life in prison.
The task force is now gearing up for an influx of visitors coming to the Bay for the World Cup at Levi’s Stadium, which is happening in June and July.
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