Human Traffickers Arrested at San Diego Comic-Con

As part of an undercover human-trafficking sting, 14 people were arrested and 10 victims were recovered at San Diego Comic Con International, according to published reports. The annual event, held July 25-28 at the San Diego Convention Center, typically attracts more than 100,000 people. 

"Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large-scale events — such as Comic-Con — to exploit their victims for profit," said California attorney general Rob Bonta in a statement. "These arrests send a clear message to potential offenders that their criminal behavior will not be tolerated. We are grateful to all our dedicated partners involved in the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, whose collaboration has been invaluable."

David Peckinpaugh, president and CEO of third-party event powerhouse Maritz, which has been actively fighting human trafficking since 2011, was impressed by the work of law enforcement at the event. "What I appreciated was the fact that it's gotten that kind of visibility and that kind of focus," he told Northstar. "To have something like this be that public with such a big event, with that kind of focus from law enforcement, I found very encouraging. Big sporting events, big concert events, Republican and Democratic national conventions — the list goes on and on and on where these things happen. It's disheartening, but on the other hand, I'm glad that they caught these criminals."

Inside the sting

During the three-day operation, law enforcement personnel acted as sex buyers to identify victims and arrest traffickers. They also posted undercover advertisements soliciting sex to find buyers. Out of the 10 victims recovered, nine were adults and one was 16 years old. 

"San Diego proudly hosts special events like Comic-Con; highly attended events like these allow us to showcase our growing and beautiful city," said Christopher Davis, acting special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations San Diego. "However, when people use these events as an opportunity to prey upon minors, HSI and our law enforcement partners will find you and bring you before a court of law to face criminal charges. There is no place for alleged predators to operate in our city, and HSI is committed to helping the victims of these crimes."

The investigation was a joint effort through the SDHTTF, the San Diego Police Department, the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security, among other local and federal offices.

"There is no more insidious crime than human trafficking," said San Diego sheriff Kelly Martinez. "The coercion and violence that enslaves people for profit and places them into forced labor or sex is criminal. As the sheriff, I support the efforts of all our justice partners in holding perpetrators accountable. I appreciate the focus that was placed on the recent convention to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking."

How the events industry can help

Event professionals can join the fight to stop human trafficking. Maritz puts antitrafficking wording in its contracts, RFPs and supplier partner agreements, for instance, and recommends that event organizers ask venues whether their staff has been trained to recognize when human trafficking is happening. Awareness can be raised among attendees by simply putting a link on event registrations to antitrafficking training. Any of these actions can help save a victim.

Here are some resources:

• PACT is the U.S. member of ECPAT International, a network of organizations in more than 100 countries working together toward the elimination of the sexual exploitation of children. PACT's site features online training and much more. Many hospitality organizations — alongside Maritz — have signed The Code, also known as the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, an initiative to provide awareness, tools and support to the tourism industry to prevent the sexual exploitation of children.
• The Department of State's public awareness and training page has a number of resources for learning about the issue and spreading the word.
• With the TraffickCam app, individuals can help by taking pictures of their hotel rooms to upload to the app's database of images that investigators can search, in order to match the rooms to images that were taken in the same location and posted elsewhere by the perpetrators.
• Organizations can follow Maritz's lead in partnering with local nonprofits where they are hosting events. For instance, when in Orlando, the company works with One Purse, gathering donations of designer bags that are resold to fund its programs to help women who are overcoming abuse, addiction, exploitation and trafficking. In its home town of St. Louis, Maritz works with the Covering House, whose mission is to restore the lives of sexually trafficked youth in the United States. Currently, the meetings and incentive firm is providing complimentary office space to the Covering House as they build a new facility.