Alameda police have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a woman on July 31. (File)
MARTINEZ – East Bay authorities last month arrested 13 people on suspicion of human trafficking and identified 30 victims, according to the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office.
The crackdown, dubbed Operation Reclaim and Rebuild, started Jan. 23 and ended Jan. 28. Altogether, Contra Costa County Human Trafficking Task Force partners conducted eight separate operations throughout the county, prosecutors said in a statement Friday.
The suspects were arrested on charges including sex trafficking of an adult, sex trafficking of a minor and pimping. The victims, meanwhile, were offered services and given an opportunity to speak with a specialized human trafficking victim advocate.
“My office stands ready to evaluate these cases for prosecution and hold traffickers accountable for their exploitation of vulnerable members of our community,” District Attorney Diana Becton said.
Co-led by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office and Community Violence Solutions, the task force was founded in 2018 to end all forms of human trafficking in the county.
Anyone with information related to human trafficking or similar crimes in the county can contact their local law enforcement agency or the district attorney’s human trafficking tip line at 925-957-8658.
Originally published at Jason Green