In collaboration with local, state, and federal agencies, the SFPD arrested five suspects in three separate World Cup-related sex trafficking investigations and provided assistance and resources to survivors, including a minor from Oakland.
The World Cup-related enforcement effort involved several separate investigations over the last few weeks, according to a release from the San Francisco Police Department. Among those assisted during the operation was a minor from Oakland who police say had allegedly been trafficked and brought to SF by 28-year-old Otis Broughton.
Officers stopped a vehicle near Turk and Mason streets on June 20 after observing reckless driving and learned the girl had been taken to multiple locations in the city and had repeatedly asked to go home. Investigators later found messages on her phone that allegedly showed Broughton had been attempting to recruit her. He was arrested on charges including human trafficking of a minor and pandering.
The operation also included a June 12 bust involving the Santa Clara Human Trafficking Task Force, BART Police, the SF Sheriff's Office, and the FBI. During that investigation, officers arrested 25-year-old SF resident Tyler Marchok after he allegedly arranged to meet a decoy at a city hotel through a commercial sex website. Police say Marchok tried to flee when officers approached, discarding a jacket that allegedly contained a loaded firearm, an additional magazine, and a knife. Officers also reportedly recovered a second firearm, multiple high-capacity magazines, and ammunition from his vehicle.
On June 18, Special Victims Unit detectives executed a search warrant at a suspected brothel on the 900 block of Bryant Street, where police said they found evidence of sex work and cited two men for solicitation. A third suspect, 64-year-old Hong Yu, was arrested on suspicion of operating a residential brothel. Police said the individuals found at the residence were connected with support services.
"Human trafficking of any kind will never be tolerated in San Francisco," Police Chief Derrick Lew said in a statement. "Our officers will be out in force cracking down on sex trafficking during the World Cup and after."
In January, city leaders released an anti-sex trafficking PSA ahead of the Super Bowl and this summer's World Cup events.
As SFist reported in January, a California woman filed a federal lawsuit against two luxury apartment complexes in SF's South Beach, alleging that employees ignored widespread sex trafficking that took place there while some took payments to stay quiet.
The public is urged to report any potential sex trafficking activity to the Bay Area Human Trafficking Hotline at 415-907-9911, which is open 24/7, or 911 in an emergency.
Related: Woman Sues Luxury SF Apartments Where Alleged Sex Trafficking Took Place, Says They Knew
Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
