Police Publicize Names of Alleged Johns in Prostitution Sting

As part of the county’s crackdown on sex crimes, police rounded up 20 men from around the county in an overnight anti-prostitution sting in Santa Ana.

But they didn’t stop there.

Santa Ana police publicized the names of the men arrested, and Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas will be publicizing the names of the men convicted as part of the crackdown, said Susan Kang Schroeder, his chief of staff.

"At the very least the significant others or partners or wives of these men ought to know what their partners have been up to or the diseases they've exposed them to," Schroeder said.

Prosecutors are focusing on prostitution because they've noticed an increase in the amount of exploited youths, Schroeder said.

"Many of the prostitutes are exploited minors or young women in difficult circumstances," Schroeder said, adding the office like to call pimps "modern day slave owners."

Three women officers went undercover as prostitutes in Santa Ana from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m. today along Harbor Boulevard, a notorious prostitution thoroughfare, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Usually the department catches 10 to 30 suspects in prostitution stings, Bertagna said.

These types of crackdowns can be expensive and difficult to do because of the staffing, but police did it as part of the District Attorney's new Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) unit's focus on sex crimes, Bertagna said.

The suspects arrested were:

--David Flores, 32, of Aliso Viejo;

--Herbert Yoneoka, 68, of Fountain Valley;

--Michael Davis, 35, of Fountain Valley;

--Ariel Castro, 41, of Santa Ana;

--Paulino Lopez, 47, of Santa Ana;

--Felipe Barrera, 32, of Garden Grove;

--Silvestre Jacob, 40, of Garden Grove;

--Anthony Bello, 18, of Santa Ana;

--Oscar Castaneda, 31, of Santa Ana;

--Omar Moreno, 35, of Santa Ana;

--Noe Hernandez, 34, of Santa Ana;

--Tony Nguyen, 44, of Westminster;

--Luis Ortiz, 27, of Santa Ana;

--Israel Ruiz, 29, of Garden Grove;   --Paulino Martinez, 39, of Santa Ana;

--Christopher Witts, 28, of Upland;

--Jonathan Peralta, 20, of Westminster;

--Heladio Herrera, 20, of Santa Ana;

--David Montano, 31, of Anaheim;

--Rios Francisco, 33, of Santa Ana.

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-City News Service


Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the stage at which the district attorney’s office publicizes the names of the alleged Johns. While police publicized the names of the men arrested, the district attorney’s office publicizes their names after they have been convicted.