Anti-illegal immigration group files complaint against San Diego Police

By: SARAH WILKINS - Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO ---- A member of an anti-illegal immigration group filed a complaint with the San Diego County grand jury Thursday in response to what he described as a failure by the San Diego Police Department to adequately respond to an incident of prostitution and human trafficking in migrant camps near McGonigle Canyon, an area where hundreds of migrant workers were evicted last year.

However, police Capt. Boyd Long said that a recent investigation and surveillance of the rural area between Rancho Penasquitos and Carmel Valley produced no evidence of prostitution or trafficking.

The complaint, filed by Los Angeles resident John Monti of the anti-illegal immigration group Save Our State, calls for the investigation of an incident reported the afternoon of Dec. 2. Officers responding to reports of prostitutes brought into the canyon allegedly refused to investigate an area where the alleged sex workers were reportedly seen with about a dozen male migrant workers. According to the complaint, which names two police officers and two police captains as defendants, the alleged prostitutes were "obviously underage."


"These officers refused to look for the girls other than take a cursory look around the area and said it was impossible to prove prostitution," the complaint states. "They even refused to question the two men (pimps?) standing near the sex areas."

San Diego Minutemen founder Jeff Schwilk, who said he witnessed and filmed the incident, said the officers "did not even seem interested ... and said it was hard to prove prostitution unless (you see) a money exchange."

"We don't feel the Police Department handled this properly," Schwilk said, adding that his group searched the area in an effort to find the men and alleged prostitutes. The group found a backpack containing such items as toilet paper and condoms that belonged to one of the women, he said.

Monti said in an interview Thursday night that he filed the grand jury complaint because police officials he spoke to were largely unresponsive.

"I think (filing the complaint) is the most effective way," he said, adding that he had been told an internal investigation would take place. "There's not that many other avenues to be effective."

Monti arrived at McGonigle Canyon about an hour after the alleged incident began, and based the complaint on his observations, video recorded by members of the San Diego Minutemen and conversations with Minutemen members, he said.

Long, of the San Diego Police Department's northern division, said that he did not have information specific to the Dec. 2 allegations, but police conducted surveillance and undercover operations weeks after that date in response to complaints.

The area where the alleged incident took place was investigated by the department's vice unit and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency's human trafficking unit, and no evidence ---- including "telltale" signs such as ripped underwear, nylons or condom wrappers ---- was ever found indicating the crimes took place, Long said.

"We set up a survey area and found no evidence of human trafficking or prostitution," he said.

For two years, the department has had two "migrant liaison" officers who patrol the area and respond to issues there, and "never once was human trafficking (reported) going on," he said. No arrests have been made in connection to prostitution in the area, Long added.

Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for the federal immigration office in San Diego, said that sex crimes have not been reported recently in McGonigle Canyon, and a lone incident reported just over a year ago was unsubstantiated.

Investigation of alleged sex crimes includes identifying victims, including age and nationality, as well as looking for links to organized crime and tracing money traded in the crime, Mack said.

"No. 1 is finding out whether lives are in danger, if (victims) are sex slaves," Mack said.

Achieving solutions to problems in migrant communities is "not as quick as we'd like it to be, not as quick as the public would like to see," Long said, adding that residents should call police and not "take it upon themselves to remove the camps." However, law enforcement officials must "look responsibly in a logical fashion" in approaching problems, or migrants will simply move to another location, Long said.

Chuck Martin, an assistant to the coordinator of the county grand jury, said the office does not comment on complaints or investigations.

However, once a letter of complaint is received, it must be reviewed by "appropriate committees" to determine whether the case will be taken up by the jury, Martin said. The process can take up to five weeks, he added.

The county grand jury does not conduct criminal investigations or hand down indictments. It does investigate citizen complaints about government agencies in the county and look into issues grand jurors raise about local governing bodies.

The panel prepares written reports about its investigations and recommends changes for the agencies. State law requires agencies involved to file responses to the grand jury's reports, but the grand jury has no formal power to enforce its recommendations.


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