San Diego Comic-Con human trafficking case explained: What happened?

Amid the fallout from Marvel’s internet-breaking Hall H panel, more than 10 people have been arrested following a human trafficking sting at San Diego Comic-Con.

In terms of announcements, 2024’s Comic-Con lived up to the hype: Robert Downey Jr returned as Doctor Doom, Avengers 5 and Secret Wars got huge updates, Invincible confirmed a fourth season, and The Boys revealed a Soldier Boy spinoff is in the works.

As Christopher Davis, HSI San Diego’s acting special agent in charge, pointed out, “highly attended events like these allow us to showcase our growing and beautiful city.”

However, unbeknown to its attendees, a task force secretly carried out a sting to recover trafficking victims and target sex buyers.

14 people arrested in Comic-Con human trafficking operation

An anti-human trafficking operation at San Diego Comic-Con led to 14 arrests and 10 victims being recovered, according to Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The sting was carried out by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force (SDHTTF) between July 25-27, and focused on finding victims of sex trafficking and targeting traffickers, as well as buyers.

As per the attorney general’s press release, undercover members of the task force posed as sex buyers to find victims and their traffickers, as well as posting undercover ads offering sex to buyers.

While no names have been reported, 14 people were arrested. All 10 victims (including a 16-year-old) have since been offered support from child welfare advocates and other services.

“Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large-scale events such as Comic-Con to exploit their victims for profit,” Bonta said in a statement.

“These arrests send a clear message to potential offenders that their criminal behavior will not be tolerated. We are grateful to all our dedicated partners involved in the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, whose collaboration has been invaluable. We take great pride in our office’s commitment to uplifting vulnerable Californians by offering them assistance and guidance when they need it most.”

San Diego Sheriff Kelly Martinez called it an “insidious crime… the coercion and violence which enslaves people for profit and places them into forced labor or sex is criminal.”

“As the Sheriff I support the efforts of all our justice partners in holding perpetrators accountable. I appreciate the focus that was placed on the recent convention to identify and rescue victims of human trafficking.”

Davis stressed that HSI and its law enforcement partners “will find [people preying on minors] and bring [them] before a court of law to face criminal charges… there is no place for alleged predators to operate in our city.”