An undercover sting operation at last week’s San Diego Comic-Con resulted in the arrest of over a dozen suspected sex traffickers, the California Department of Justice announced on Tuesday. The bust, carried out by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, also led to the recovery of 10 victims, including nine adults and a 16-year-old girl.
During the three-day operation, conducted between July 27 and 27, undercover officers posed as potential sex buyers in and around the popular convention, identifying criminals hiding amongst the roughly 100,000 Comic-Con attendees. Fourteen offenders were arrested by the time the sting concluded on Sunday.
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“Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large scale events such as Comic-Con to exploit their victims for profit,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release. “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.”
“San Diego proudly hosts special events like Comic-Con — highly attended events like these allow us to showcase our growing and beautiful city,” Homeland Security Investigations acting special agent Christopher Davis said. “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.”
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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