SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – According to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, tactical teams with the National City and San Diego police departments and San Diego County Sheriff’s Office served multiple search warrants in National City and San Diego.
“We've known about it for some time, but we couldn't say anything,” Mayor Ron Morrison, City of National City, said.
The sheriff’s office announced on Tuesday that the operation took place on Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
The search warrants were served as part of a long-term and ongoing investigation conducted by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force.
Most of the locations, according to the Sheriff’s Office, were short-term rentals that have been linked to human trafficking and prostitution.
“We’ve had a lot of frustrations with this issue,” Morrison said.
It’s an issue Morrison has addressed in the past to ABC 10News, and said people have raised concerns with those issues with him.
“People were complaining about it like crazy, and wondering why the city wasn't doing anything about this,” Morrison said. “You know, they were seeing people, uh, shall we say, walking in front of their houses, in front of their schools, everything else that, uh, um, not normally clad for daytime activity, let's put it that way.”
The sheriff’s office didn’t release specific details of the ongoing nature due to its highly sensitive nature.
ABC 10News also reached out to the California Attorney General’s office for any more information, including if anyone was arrested or taken into custody as a result of the operation. It told us the office wasn't able to comment on an ongoing investigation.
The attorney general and sheriff’s office both stated that this operation is not associated with any type of federal immigration enforcement.
Morrison said it's satisfying that an operation like this is happening, given the resources his city has invested in it and the concerns he has voiced in the past.
“When you know you've got good partners, you got the district attorney, you have both of the, as far as law enforcement, both at the state and federal level, being able to coordinate and work together on these type of things is extremely helpful,” Morrison said.
He also added that it’s reassuring to know these kinds of task forces are working to curb an issue in our communities.
“99% of the time, you don't see any of that activity. It's happening, but you just don't get to see it. And, so it is great when you actually get to see some, you know, get to see the result of all that labor,” Morrison said. "And this morning has been the results of a lot of labor over a long period of time.”
