Two men were charged with Attempted Human Trafficking of a Minor and Pandering of a Minor on Friday after they were arrested by Human Trafficking Bureau detectives.
Dominique Johnson MB/24 and Sean DePalm MB/20, both residing in the LA area, were arrested after they separately attempted to recruit two 16 year-old girls into commercial sex work, via a social media app on the internet.
What the men did not know is that the 16 year-old girls were actually Human Trafficking Detectives, posing as minors. This technique is routinely used by investigators to catch predators who use the internet to recruit their victims.
In each case, the men described their intention to take the minors to areas known for commercial sex sales, and sell them to men for sex.
Detectives said it was made clear to the defendants that they were communicating with minors, but the two persisted in their recruiting efforts to traffick the girls. After days of communication, Johnson and DePalm arranged to meet the girls near Union Station in Los Angeles.
Instead of 16 year-old girls, the pair was met by a team of detectives from the LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, arrested and booked for felony charges at East Los Angeles Station.
Bail for the defendants was set at $95,000 for Dominique Johnson and $70,000 for Sean Depalm.
Partner to prevent or report crime by contacting your local Sheriff’s Station. If you wish to remain anonymous, call “LA Crime Stoppers” by dialing 800-222-TIPS (8477), or use your smartphone by downloading the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP or “P3 Mobile” for the hearing impaired on Google play or the App Store, or by using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Human Trafficking Bureau houses the LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, the nation’s largest co-located human trafficking task force. The Task Force is a collaboration of federal, state, county and local law enforcement, social service agency and non-government and community-based organizations investigating and serving the needs of commercially exploited adults and minors victimized for the purpose of sex and labor.
The LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force brings together systems and disciplines to address the victim’s needs through a victim centered, trauma informed approach. The task force employs a regionalized strategy that crosses jurisdictional boundaries to identify and rescue victims while aggressively pursuing traffickers and buyers.
LA Regional Human Trafficking Task Force Partners:
Federal
United States Attorney’s Office
Homeland Security Investigations (ICE)
Federal Bureau of Investigation
United States Marshals Service
United States Department of Labor
State
California Attorney General
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (State Parole)
California Employment Development Department
California Highway Patrol
County
LA County Sheriff’s Department
LA County District Attorney’s Office (DA & DA Investigator)
Department of Children and Family Services
LA County Probation Department
LA County Department of Public Health
City
Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Unified School District Police Department
Pomona Police Department
Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office
Non-Government/Community Based Organizations
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
Saving Innocence
The Guardian Group (Hotel/Motel Outreach, Education and Signage)
Sheriff Clergy Council
Pet Prescriptions Therapy Dog Program
Demand Abolition Cease Network
Restoration Diversion Services
Virtuous Women Inc.
Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles
International Institute of Los Angeles
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
0 Comments
You can be the first one to leave a comment.