Danica Davidson
August 2, 2024 
San Diego Comic-Con 2024 has concluded. And while the con is mainly known as a place where people with interests in comic books, movies, anime/manga and more like to gather, it’s currently getting a lot of news for another reason: the human trafficking sting that happened there.
A press release from the California attorney general explained that between July 25 and 27, the California Department of Justice’s (a.k.a. DOJ) San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force (a.k.a. SDHTTF) pulled off an anti-human trafficking sting operation at Comic-Con. When all was said and done, 14 people were arrested and 10 victims were found.
California Attorney General Attorney General Rob Bonta further stated, “Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large-scale events such as Comic-Con to exploit their victims for profit.”
San Diego Comic-Con, which has more than 100,000 attendants, would definitely fall under the category of a “large-scale event.”
How Authorities Caught the Traffickers
San Diego Police Chief Wahl remarked, “Working together, teams identified and arrested more than a dozen individuals participating in these illegal acts in our City over the weekend. This successful operation recovered 10 victims of human trafficking, including a girl of just 16 years old. These results show our collective dedication to combatting human trafficking and holding criminals accountable are working.”
In order to find the traffickers, authorities went undercover and pretended to be sex buyers. Another segment of the sting operation involved authorities posting “undercover advertisements soliciting sex.” Child Welfare Services was there for the underage victim, and other adult and juvenile support advocates were around as well. The reports make it clear that this was a very coordinated effort from multiple groups.
Comic-Con International, however, was not in on all this until afterward. It responded to the news by saying, “Obviously we find this very disturbing. While we were not made aware of this operation, it is our understanding that the arrests were made outside of the event.”
Source: California Office of the Attorney General
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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