KGTV -- Local law enforcement arrested and cited more people for crimes related to prostitution and solicitation last year than in The increase comes the same year Backpage, a popular hub for solicitation and one of the biggest classified ad websites in the world, was seized by the government.
There were men she was forced to call "Daddy. I will get slapped. Kayla said she was 7-years-old when her mom died. She stayed with family members until she ended up in the system at years-old, she said. Lost and confused, Kayla said she thought she found help in a friend, who appeared to be in a similar situation.
What she didn't know was that the more experienced teen was a recruiter, leading Kayla straight into sex trafficking. She said she moved from pimp to pimp and in and out of jail cells.
She was afraid if she tried to leave the life, her pimp would kill her. The most common cause, risk factor, for girls in the L. Team 10 discovered an increase in the number of combined prostitution and solicitation citations and arrests made by the San Diego Police Department. The increase comes the same year one of the largest Internet classified ad sites, Backpage, was shut down by law enforcement. A spokesperson for the San Diego Police Department said they have seen an increase in street prostitution since Backpage was seized.
Team 10 investigator Adam Racusin asked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra if he sees a correlation between Backpage shutting down and people being exploited on the streets. Becerra explained that recent changes to the laws allow prosecutors to go after pimps criminally. In , the California Department of Justice busted an international sex trafficking ring. Agents said the woman who was arrested is accused of trafficking young Asian females, including one from Hong Kong.
