Undercover investigators from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department arrested 17 men between the ages of 19 and 78 for allegedly soliciting female prostitutes in Goleta over the weekend.
Detectives held the two-day sting operation on Friday and Saturday, according to Kelly Hoover, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
Officers placed online ads on several unidentified websites that are known for online prostitution, Hoover said.
The ads offered sexual acts in exchange for money, Hoover said, and when the men showed up at a Goleta hotel to engage in paid sex acts with the women, officers made the arrests on the misdemeanor charges.
The suspects were identified as Jeffrey Goddard, 45, and Cassidy King, 30, both of of Carpinteria; and Jose Sifuentes-Dominguez, 24, A. Thomas Hunt, Jr., 50, Juan Pimentel-Campos, 48, Soupitak Pal, 34, Rodolfo Cortes-Avelino, 23, and Frank Palmer, 78, all of Goleta.
Also arrested were Santa Barbara residents Matthew Geanta, 41, Jorge Lorca Jr., 39, Dr. Richard Davis, 55, Jose Nava-Carbajal, 29, Joshua Silverstein, 19, Dimitar Dimtrov, 29, Alain Pereira, 23, and David Joseph Gomez, 27.
A Los Olivos man, Owen Wright, 31, also was among those taken into custody. Davis was also allegedly in possession of a loaded needle containing suspected fentanyl and methamphetamine, and was booked on an additional charge of possession of a controlled substance.
He posted $20,000 bail and was released.
The Sheriff’s Department said the stings are intended to curb and deter human trafficking throughout Santa Barbara County.
The number of online prostitution related advertisements has grown substantially, and a majority of the women advertised as prostitutes are victims of various types of abuse and/or human trafficking, authorities said.
Authorities said the sting is intended to deter people from searching for a prostitute, thereby reducing the demand and reducing the number of women who fall victim to the abuse of human trafficking.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
