Aug 31, 2022 | Alex Wilson, News, Oxnard, Port Hueneme | 0 |
by Alex Wilson awilson@timespublications.com
Officials with the Ventura County Human Trafficking Task Force said they have dismantled a sex trafficking operation involving four massage parlors operated by members of an Oxnard family, and also found large amounts of narcotics and two guns during the operation.
Eight search warrants were served on Aug. 19 at five businesses and three Oxnard homes. The massage businesses targeted were Magic Therapy, Mission Spa and Souly Foot Massage in Oxnard, as well as Sunshine Therapy in Port Hueneme. Investigators said they also searched an Oxnard restaurant, Burrito Express, allegedly used to launder money.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Detective Ernan Jauregui led his department’s response and told the Ventura County Reporter it was one of the most complex sex trafficking cases he’s worked on.
“It was definitely a large-scale operation, which is why we partnered up with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office in this investigation,” he said.
Authorities said a husband and wife, Ira and Erika Malarowitz, were the main operators of the criminal organization. Alma Monarrez-Diaz, Melesio Monarrez-Diaz and Justin Malarowitz worked as “middle management” operating the brothels, investigators said.
The investigation is continuing and no arrests have been made so far. Jauregui could not predict how long it would take before arrests on federal charges are made.
The investigation started in March 2021 after authorities said they learned sex and labor trafficking was taking place at several businesses operated by the family. Authorities said the suspects targeted vulnerable women from Mexico from “underprivileged backgrounds” to work in the brothels. After they were recruited, the women were featured in online sex advertisements describing the types of sexual encounters provided, the cost and the businesses where the women worked.
Authorities said the suspects updated the advertisements every day and that the women were rotated between the various establishments.
During the raids, numerous trafficked women were contacted and received services from human trafficking victim service providers.
Jauregui said he’s happy that the women, who ranged in age from 20 to 50, are getting the help they need to free themselves from sex trafficking.
“It feels good in that sense, a certain sense of accomplishment, and often knowing that we are doing something to stop these suspects from victimizing other people,” the detective said about his team’s effort. “Obviously, there’s a lot of great work and it’s a team and it’s full of different people who’ve helped out. Not just myself and our partners, but also our non-government organizations provide resources. So it’s truly satisfying to get these victims out of these situations and to ensure that these suspects also stop their illegal and, I would say, unethical behavior.”
In addition to the women, investigators also discovered large sums of cash believed to be proceeds from sex and narcotics trafficking. Suspected drugs that were seized included methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana, authorities said.
Two firearms were also found and neither was registered, according to investigators. One of the guns was what’s known as a “ghost gun” that had been privately manufactured and had no serial number.
The case has been handed over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution in federal court.
Efforts to reach the suspects by the Ventura County Reporter were unsuccessful.
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