One tip to California law enforcement resulted in a week-long sweep of the human garbage that engineers and facilitates human trafficking in the state. Thanks to a joint enterprise called "Operation Reclaim and Rebuild," 156 adults and 14 children were rescued from human sex trafficking. The evil actors who enslaved them were also snatched up: 71 suspected traffickers were arrested, along with 328 sex buyers.
It was a bad week for the criminal element in the state, and that is how it should be.
A single tip about a quiet suburban home in California exploded into a massive human trafficking takedown that rescued nearly 20 children, uncovered residential brothels, and netted more than 600 arrests statewide. The week-long operation was named Operation Reclaim and Rebuild,… pic.twitter.com/Wv9T9Wd7LF
— Robbie Mouton (@mcgmouton57) February 5, 2026
A single tip about a quiet suburban home in California exploded into a massive human trafficking takedown that rescued nearly 20 children, uncovered residential brothels and netted more than 600 arrests statewide, authorities said Tuesday.
The week-long operation, dubbed Operation Reclaim and Rebuild, involved dozens of agencies and led to the rescue of 12 adults and five children in Los Angeles County alone, officials said during a news conference.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the entire investigation began with a single citizen complaint about a suspicious home in Walnut. That tip led to months of surveillance and the discovery of multiple trafficking locations in nearby suburban neighborhoods.
WATCH:
JUST IN: Los Angeles Law Enforcement officials announced the results of their week-long sex trafficking crackdown titled “Operation Reclaim and Rebuild.”
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 4, 2026
-156 adults rescued
-14 children rescued
-71 suspected traffickers arrested
-328 sex buyers arrested
-16 non-human… pic.twitter.com/TBLEn6vKMg
Next door to Walnut, California, is San Bernardino County, where some of those suburban neighborhoods were targeted. The San Bernardino Police Department, human trafficking investigators from the San Bernardino County Gangs/Narcotics Division, California Highway Patrol, the San Bernardino County Probation Department, Homeland Security investigations, the FBI Investigations Unit, along with local victim advocacy partners, were also involved in this successful campaign.
Over the one-week period, investigators, made 44 arrests throughout San Bernardino County for solicitation of prostitution and Pimping/Pandering. Services and resources were provided to ten rescued victims. The operation targeted online and street prostitution. The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s goal in this operation was to not only arrest individuals involved in solicitation, but to identify victims and provide those victims with resources.
San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus rightly took a victory lap.
If you’re exploiting others through sexual slavery or human trafficking, know this: our deputies are coming, and arrests will follow through Operation Reclaim and Rebuild.
— Shannon Dicus (@SheriffDicus) February 4, 2026
In just 5 days:
• 44 arrests
• 10 victims rescued
• Critical resources and services provided
Together,… https://t.co/eS6J0ulUxn
Sadly, this is a drop in the bucket. Los Angeles is known as the epicenter of human trafficking for the entire nation. Law enforcement and Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman are keeping the locations and the alleged perpetrators on lock for now. The trafficking network is probably much more extensive than any of them will attest to. What these arrests do indicate is that, despite California Gov. Gavin Newsom's tough-guy pretense and posturing against the Trump administration and ICE enforcement, coupled with his refusal to fund Prop. 46, to which Californians overwhelmingly voted "YES" in order to restore felony penalties to certain crimes, real criminal enforcement continues to occur, and it is the real cops who do the job of combatting the nefarious elements.
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Among the 611 total arrests were suspected traffickers and hundreds of sex buyers, though authorities have not yet said how many will face felony human trafficking charges versus lesser solicitation offenses.
The greater tragedy is that a good number of the victims are American citizens, some as young as 13, from the local area and from states in the heartland of our country.
Officials said some of the victims rescued came from as far away as Illinois, Oklahoma and Missouri, underscoring the scope of the human trafficking ring.
"We have traffickers that are putting barely teenage girls on the streets of Los Angeles to be victimized, repeatedly, over and over again," said LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton. "These children did not come from one place. They came from Chicago, from Oklahoma, from Missouri, tribal lands... and from communities right here in the state of California."
All the California law enforcement partners and advocacy agencies encourage the public to report human trafficking or suspicious activity. This one tip by a good citizen reaped dividends and freed hundreds from the scourge of sex trafficking.
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