Sheriff’s office undercover operation rescues two sex trafficking victims
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SACRAMENTO COUNTY, California (KCRA) — The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office is sending a message to human traffickers: They’ll find you.
The sheriff’s office conducted an undercover operation over the weekend, making multiple arrests and rescuing victims.
They called it Operation Cold Winter’s Night.
“We looked for both sex workers that were being exploited to hopefully rescue them, but we also targeted the sex buyers because no buyers, no industry,” said Sgt. Amar Gandhi.
The sting operation only lasted a few hours Friday night.
“Within a few hours, we got 26 of them. So this wasn’t some big prolonged operation over days or whatnot. This was just a few hours on a Friday night,” said Gandhi.
At the end of the night, deputies arrested 26 sex buyers, rescued two victims of sex trafficking and seized two illegal guns.
Gandhi said sometimes it’s tough to save the victims.
“The biggest part about it, they accepted resources. They accepted help,” he said.
Volunteers from the advocacy group Drive4Impact were on hand to talk with victims.
“It’s creating a really good bridge of trust to have them there,” said Founder Ken Byrnes.
He said not all survivors are comfortable with law enforcement.
That’s why they all work together in the crackdowns.
“If you keep on taking away the worker bee, so to speak, then eventually somebody is going to have to step in there and do something,” Byrnes said. “So, like chopping away at the tree, eventually the tree is going to fall down.”
“A lot of times people talk about, why aren’t you going after the traffickers?” said Gandhi. “The traffickers are the golden goose, that’s who we want, ultimately. But the investigations start here on a street level.”
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