Long Beach police say they rescued two girls and arrested their alleged traffickers following a three-day undercover investigation into commercial sex work earlier this month.
In the first arrest on Feb. 6, police said Los Angeles resident William Givens, 19, was charged with one count of human trafficking by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office after an investigation by the LBPD and other agencies revealed that he was allegedly running a sex-trafficking operation out of the Golden Sails Hotel near Alamitos Bay.
Givens was released after posting bail two days later and is due back in court Friday, Feb. 18 for a pretrial hearing, court records show.
Long Beach resident Ryan Culpepper, 29, was also arrested around 1 a.m. Feb. 10 near a Long Beach motel where he was allegedly running a sex-trafficking operation in the 2600 block of North Lakewood Boulevard, police said.
He was booked on suspicion of trafficking a minor and remains in custody on $185,000 bail, LBPD said. He is due in court for arraignment on Feb. 23, court records show.
In addition to rescuing the two girls, police said they detained six other people on suspicion of soliciting prostitution, although they were later released on their own recognizance, the department said in a statement today.
Police urge anyone with more information to call investigators at 562-570-7219.