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A nationwide human trafficking sting led to the rescue of six children in the Bay Area who were forced into prostitution and the arrests of eight suspects accused of pimping them out, authorities announced Thursday.
“Selling children for sex is a heinous crime and will not be tolerated,” said Special Agent David J. Johnson, head of the FBI’s San Francisco office.
The Bay Area investigation was part of a nationwide crackdown on human trafficking dubbed “Operation Cross Country IX.” The sting resulted in the recovery of a total of 149 sexually-exploited children across the country and the arrests of 153 suspected pimps, officials said.
The Bay Area operation also led to the discovery in Oakland of a 16-year-old Milpitas victim, who was found in an East Bay hotel, where she had been forced into the sex trade. She was returned to her family, who had reported her missing nearly a month before.
One of the suspected pimps, Rufus Mitchell, of Emeryville, had prior convictions for drug trafficking and has already been charged with human trafficking, said Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley. Charges against the other two suspected pimps arrested in Alameda County would be filed soon, she said.
Authorities did not disclose what cities the five other suspected pimps the Bay Area were arrested.
“Human trafficking is a monstrous and devastating crime that steals lives and degrades our nation,” U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement Thursday. “As a result of the FBI’s outstanding coordination and exemplary effort alongside state and local partners during Operation Cross Country, more children will sleep safely tonight, and more wrongdoers will face the judgment of our criminal justice system.”
Officials said 52 suspected johns were also arrested in the Bay Area sting.
“If you are going to come to our cities to troll our streets, we are going to identify you and we are going to prosecute you,” O’Malley said.
The youngest child rescued was 12 years old, but it was not immediately clear where the victim was found.
The sting was conducted in 135 cities across the country and involved 500 law-enforcement officials, including police from San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.
During the operation, officers went undercover to at truck stops, hotels, casinos and other areas known for prostitution activity, officials said.
“The number of children recovered and pimps arrested in this year’s operation highlights the importance of these efforts today and every day in protecting our children from exploitation,” said Linda Krieg, acting chief executive officer of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
O’Malley said that the collaborative operation with federal agencies highlighted the efforts of local law enforcement that goes on year round, noting that, over the last three-and-a-half years, more than 500 victims have been rescued and roughly 480 traffickers have been prosecuted with an 80 percent conviction rate.
She also emphasized a renewed effort to give support to victims of sex trafficking who are often forced into the sex trade after childhoods filled with abuse and neglect.
“For many of these children, their abuse started early and they are dealing with a lifetime of trauma,” O’Malley said. “We need to do more to start preventing this from occurring in the first place instead of just responding.”
Kale Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kwilliams@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SFKale
