SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Police Department and several other agencies have completed an undercover joint operation called "Operation Trick-or-Treat."
Multiple undercover operations landed almost 60 people behind bars for things like solicitation and sex trafficking.
"There is still a ton of work that needs to be done, and there are still far too many vulnerable young people who are being exploited right now," said Maggy Krell, a veteran prosecutor.
Krell literally wrote the book on battling this growing issue. It's called:
"Taking Down Backpage: Fighting the World's Largest Sex Trafficker."
"It used to be there was the creepy van in the neighborhood, but now the creepy van has a cute puppy profile picture on Instagram," said Krell. "They are liking your posts and sliding in your DMs. Kids really need to be wary of that, especially teenagers."
Sacramento police and at least 10 other agencies including the FBI, Folsom, West Sacramento and Vacaville police conducted undercover operations. They were joined by the group Communities Against Sexual Harm (CASH). They helped the sex workers recovered during the operation.
"We have therapy. We have long-term housing assistance, so we can help somebody in a moment, a moment of crisis. And we can help somebody walk into a completely different life," said Terri Galvan, with CASH.
Sacramento police released the following statement saying: "In addition to impacting the demand side of human trafficking-related crimes, participating agencies also made efforts to recover active commercial sex workers and provide them access to resources intended to provide stability and guide them out of a life of sexual exploitation."
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