Largest Sex Trafficking Ring In Western US Busted — Children Openly Sold ‘In Plain Sight’

‘A report of a missing teenager in Tulare County, California, in late 2016 culminated into the uncovering of one of the largest sex trafficking rings in the Western United States, according to an announcement by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on Thursday. Thirteen young women and girls, including the missing teen, were freed from captivity as a result of the extensive investigation.
The missing teenager’s disappearance, and subsequent discovery in a West Hollywood apartment in January, led investigators in the LA Sheriff’s Department to discover an extensive human sex trafficking network that extended from Nevada to California. During the course of the investigation, detectives discovered that the ring used apartments as brothels in dozens of communities, including Burbank, West Hollywood, and Las Vegas.
“Years ago, a human trafficking case of this magnitude was not likely,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell said in a news conference in downtown. “We knew the more we looked, the more we would find.”’
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