Fourteen alleged human traffickers were busted at a massive international Comic-Con event that took place in San Diego over the weekend thanks to an undercover sting that also rescued ten victims.

“California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that the arrests on Wednesday were part of a joint investigation by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force aimed at ‘recovering’ victims of sex trafficking and targeting sex buyers using the annual convention to seek out potential victims,” Fox News reported.

“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,” Bonta said in a statement. “We take great pride in our office’s commitment to uplifting vulnerable Californians by offering them assistance and guidance when they need it most.”

The task force conducted the sting from Thursday through Sunday in conjunction with the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the DOJ.

Sex traffickers capitalize on large events like Comic-Con to exploit victims.

As the result of an investigation by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, 14 individuals have been arrested and 10 potential victims have been offered services.https://t.co/znW5LI9nBR pic.twitter.com/CLUyOFbrsk

— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) July 31, 2024

The massively popular event draws over 130,000 fans every year who are avid comic book and pop culture fans according to NBC News. It’s the perfect stalking ground for human traffickers.

“Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large-scale events such as Comic-Con to exploit their victims for profit,” Bonta stated in his press release.

Authorities targeted sex buyers and were intent on rescuing potential victims of sex trafficking and arresting traffickers.

“The AG’s office said law enforcement personnel worked undercover as sex buyers to identify and contact potential victims of trafficking and arrest their traffickers. As part of the operation, law enforcement personnel also posted undercover advertisements soliciting sex to arrest buyers,” Fox News noted.

“As a result of the three-day operation, 14 sex buyers were arrested, nine adult potential victims of sex trafficking were recovered and offered services, and one 16-year-old girl was recovered, officials said,” the media outlet added.

Authorities arrested 14 people and rescued 10 victims including a 16-year-old during an undercover human trafficking sting at the San Diego Comic-Con Convention. pic.twitter.com/prmN8u0scf

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) July 31, 2024

“Child Welfare Services and adult and juvenile support service advocates were on scene to provide support as needed,” a press release stated.

The young demographic of the convention makes it particularly attractive to human traffickers.

“Working together, teams identified and arrested more than a dozen individuals participating in these illegal acts in our City over the weekend. These results show our collective dedication to combating human trafficking and holding criminals accountable are working,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl commented concerning the operation.

“San Diego proudly hosts special events like Comic-Con – highly attended events like these allow us to showcase our growing and beautiful city,” Christopher Davis, who is the acting special agent in charge of HSI San Diego, remarked. “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.”

(Video Credit: CBS 8 San Diego)

For its part, the San Diego Comic Convention claims it was not aware of the sting operation.

“Obviously, we find this very disturbing and, while we were not made aware of this operation, it is our understanding that the arrests were made outside of the event,” a statement from the convention read. “We work closely with a variety of law enforcement entities throughout the year and stand ready to assist in any way we can.”

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