The Investigations Unit is made up of fourteen
full-time Detectives, a crime analyst, one
Sergeant and one Lieutenant. This team works to
investigate the most complex crimes, keeping
the patrol deputies available to respond to calls
for service. The crimes investigated in this office
are typically felony level Property, Elder Abuse,
Financial, Sex and Homicide/Person crimes.
These types of investigations require a large
investment of time and resources to solve.
It is the highest priority of the Sheriff’s Office to
uncover all evidence in order to bring closure to
a case. Detectives work collaboratively,
regardless of case assignment, to solve the
complex cases. They also work cooperatively
with other agencies within and outside of the
county along with other governmental and
community based organizations.
Over the past few years, the nation has seen a significant increase in the prevalence of human
trafficking; even in smaller communities such as our own. This year, El Dorado County Sheriff's
Investigations team made it a focus to both
expose and impact any human trafficking
occurring within our county.
The most common form of human trafficking is
sexual exploitation, accounting for 79% of
human trafficking victims. These victims of
sexual exploitation are predominantly women
and girls. According to UNICEF, 2 million children
are estimated to be trafficking victims of the sex
trade each year. 20% of these traffic victims are
children. The average age of a girl being forced
into the US domestic sex slavery market is 13.
Given these stats and information, El Dorado
County Sheriff’s Detectives began receiving
training on Human Trafficking and Prostitution.
Detectives began monitoring online dating
websites and noticed a rise in clients advertising
services in El Dorado Hills, Placerville and South Lake Tahoe. Detectives have conducted several
operations on both the West Slope and in the
Tahoe Basin targeting Human Trafficking.
The main purpose of the investigations are to
identify the victims who are being prostituted by
pimps and to identify the suspects who are
pimping human trafficking victims in El Dorado
County. The operations were “Victim Centered”,
identifying the traffickers, focusing on the Pimp
not the prostitute.
During the three operations in 2017, Detectives
and DA Investigators collaborated with the FBI
targeting online dating sites. During the
operations, 21 people were either arrested or
received citations for various crimes. Some of
those crimes consisted of prostitution, drug
possession and human trafficking. During the
operations, three victims of human trafficking
were identified and removed from their captors;
one of which was a 17 year old juvenile victim.
All three were provided counseling services.
Investigations
Homicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Larceny
Burglary
Auto Theft
2016
2
54
37
915
1,547
512
42
2017
5
37
20
960
1,444
525
34
Seven Major Crimes
13