A man and his wife were arrested on sex trafficking charges after a deputy found three girls forced into sex work by the couple in Northern Highlands on Sunday, Sacramento County sheriff’s officials said.
The 46-year-old husband and his 35-year-old wife were arrested on suspicion of using threats or violence to solicit someone over the age of 16 to engage in prostitution and trafficking a victim under the age of 18, Sacramento jail records show County. Both charges are felonies.
The arrested husband was taken into custody in lieu of $2 million bail, and his wife’s bail was set at $1 million.
Sheriff’s officials said detectives fear the married women could have had additional, unreported sex trafficking victims.
The investigation began Sunday when a patrol officer found a girl near Watt Avenue and Winona Way in North Highlands. The deputy discovered the girl was a victim of sex trafficking and led the girl to safety before returning to the same area Sunday around 8 p.m., the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Monday.
Sheriff’s officials said the deputy saw two “younger looking girls” wearing lingerie near a vehicle. Both were 17 years old, according to the news release. The deputy spoke with the girls and discovered that they too were victims of sex trafficking.
Detectives from the sheriff’s special investigations bureau responded and discovered the two girls were being trafficked by family friends, who were later identified as the couple the teenage girls called their “street parents,” sheriff’s officials said.
Detectives later found the suspects and arrested them on sex trafficking charges. They were booked into the jail early Monday.
The man will appear for his arraignment in Sacramento Superior Court on Wednesday, and his wife’s arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.
Investigators urged anyone with information relevant to this sex trafficking case to call the Sheriff’s Office at 916-874-5115 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-4357.
