Santa Ana Police Department Advisory:

SAPD ARRESTS 20 MEN FOR ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE SEX IN ANTI-SEX TRAFFICKING SWEEP

The Santa Ana Police Department arrested 20 men last night in an undercover sting operation targeting suspects attempting to purchase sex in an ongoing anti-sex trafficking enforcement action.

SAPD Vice Detectives in the area of Harbor Boulevard identified and arrested 20 males attempting to purchase sex or sex acts from undercover female officers, whom the suspects believed to be prostitutes. The suspects were cited and released and the 20 cases will be referred to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The arrestees included:

• David Flores, 32, Aliso Viejo
• Ariel Castro, 41, Santa Ana
• Paulino Lopez, 47, Santa Ana
• Felipe Barrera, 32, Garden Grove
• Michael Davis, 35, Fountain Valley
• Silvestre Jacob, 40, Garden Grove
• Anthony Bello, 18, Santa Ana
• Oscar Castaneda, 31, Santa Ana
• Herbert Yoneoka, 68, Fountain Valley
• Omar Moreno, 35, Santa Ana
• Noe Hernandez, 34, Santa Ana
• Tony Nguyen, 44, Westminster
• Luis Ortiz, 27, Santa Ana
• Israel Ruiz, 29, Garden Grove
• Paulino Martinez, 39, Santa Ana
• Christopher Witts, 28, Upland
• Jonathan Peralta, 20, Westminster
• Heladio Herrera, 20, Santa Ana
• David Montano, 31, Anaheim
• Rios Francisco, 33, Santa Ana

The area of Harbor Boulevard is known to law enforcement to be a high-prostitution area and is known to frequently be used by individuals who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain, including pimps, panderers, and human traffickers.

SAPD regularly conducts anti-sex trafficking sweeps as part of a City and County-wide effort to eliminate the demand for prostitution and reduce the opportunity to commercially sexually exploit women and children.

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