14 Men Arrested in “Reverse John” Prostitution Sting in Oxnard
Authorities arrested 14 men on April 22 in a multi-agency operation known as a “Reverse John” sting aimed at the “demand” side of prostitution.
A meeting between the “Johns” and a female undercover officer, whom they had arranged a sexual meeting with through an ad on the website backpage.com, was arranged at an undisclosed location within the city of Oxnard.
Each of the 14 men who arrived was arrested on suspicion of solicitation for prostitution. If convicted, they face at least 30 days in jail, fines and fees, 3 years of probation, and mandatory HIV/aids classes.
The men arrested were:
Omar Luna, 29 years, Oxnard Resident
Oliver Sosa, 18 years, Oxnard Resident Amandeep Singh, 24 years, Oxnard Resident Fabian Fausto, 34 years, Oxnard Resident Servando Rodriguez, 24 years, Oxnard Resident Pedro Salvador, 36 years, El Rio Resident Sandro Preciado, 41 years, Ventura Resident Timothy Morales, 44 years, Santa Rosa Resident Justino Rodriguez, 31 years, Oxnard Resident Angel Silva, 39 years, Goleta Resident Alejandro Sanchez, 28 years, Oxnard Resident
Oscar Gutierrez, 34 years, Oxnard Resident Daniel Mendez, 34 years, Oxnard Resident Jorge Alcantar, 29 years, Oxnard Resident
The operation consisted of federal, state and local agencies from the Oxnard Police Department, Simi Valley Police Department, Ventura Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Ventura County District Attorney Investigator’s Office.
PROSTITUTION IS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME
The following is taken directly from an Oxnard Police Department press release on the “Reverse John” Sting Operation:
Prostitution is often interconnected with many other crimes such as rape, assaults, narcotics trafficking, pimping, pandering, human trafficking, and murder. Prostitution itself is not a “victimless crime” as many think. Most “Johns” or purchasers are solely looking for women to perform some type of sexual activity in exchange for money.
These “Johns” have no concern for the females’ state of mind, freedom or the mental and physical trauma they have endured. The majority of women and girls in prostitution have a history of childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, poverty, and other trauma. Many women in prostitution began when they were still teenagers, before the legal age of sexual consent.
If a woman is in prostitution due to force, fraud, or coercion, she is legally considered a victim of human trafficking. Any minor (i.e. child under 18) in the commercial sex industry is legally considered a victim of human trafficking; there is no such thing as a “child prostitute.”
Many pimps (or traffickers) consistently troll the internet looking for vulnerable young women to trick and coerce into prostitution. Some pimps also pose as “Johns” in order to meet with a woman in prostitution and force her to “work” for the pimp.
In cases where females in prostitution are being controlled by a pimp, they are being forced to have sex with as many “Johns” as possible in a night. This means the purchasers are re-victimizing these women and girls over and over again. If we can cut the demand for prostitution, then the supply will diminish.
Studies have shown that females in prostitution often have more than 300 sexual partners per year and are therefore assumed to have much higher rates of exposure to HIV and AIDS than the vast majority of men.
A single HIV-infected intravenous drug user could infect one female in prostitution, who in turn could infect dozens or perhaps even hundreds of non-drug using men. These men could, in turn, infect their other sexual partners, and an explosion of HIV and AIDS could occur among people without any obvious risk for AIDS. This same risk can occur with other STD’s as well.
