They stood in a caged area of a Sacramento courtroom dressed in orange prison garb, four men and one woman, all charged with conspiracy of pimping in what investigators call an international sex or human trafficking ring.  All five suspects were arrested by special agents in the Department of Justice (DOJ) Bureau of Investigations. 

“This was a human trafficking case where young women were being sold for sex in houses in Stockton, Sacramento, Chico, Yuba City and Fairfield,” said California Statewide Law Enforcement Association (CSLEA) President Alan Barcelona.  “Our association members who are special agents with DOJ are to be commended for the work it took to draw up the detailed affidavits and to handcuff these five on pimping charges so they can be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Court documents point to a network of brothels in the central valley in which the human trafficking ring leaders would bring women from Mexico to work as prostitutes and move them from house to house.  It is suspected the five people charged shopped for customers by passing  out business cards at a home improvement store and swap meets.  Forty dollars for 15 minutes of sex.

“It is deplorable that a human being would subject and force another human being into this type of activity,” said Barcelona.  “I applaud the work of our special agents and Attorney General Kamala Harris for going after human trafficking as one of the many crime fighting priorities and for rescuing these young woman.”

For Sacramento television news coverage: http://www.news10.net/news/local/article/230437/2/5-new-defendants-named-in-Central-Valley-sex-trafficking-ring

Photo Courtesy KXTV