Gameday Trafficking: Avoid Getting Yourself in a Jam this Super Bowl Season.

rogerSex Crime, Arizona Law, AZ Events

Arizona Criminal Defense Lawyer Cindy Castillo

Highway backups are not the only kind of traffic you might hear about as Arizona gears up to host its fourth Super Bowl game. Amidst the excitement of playoff brackets, chicken wings, and good old American football, don’t be surprised if you hear rumors of a more nefarious type of traffic: sex trafficking. 

You may have seen these anti-trafficking messages on billboards or even flashing above you on the drink machine as you fill up a soda at Circle K. As a part of this campaign, law enforcement is on high alert for certain crimes as the big game approaches. And unlike your favorite athletes, the police are not playing.

The last time the Super Bowl rolled through Arizona in 2015, a joint task force of FBI and local police agencies boasted that they arrested 360 customers of commercial sex and 68 sex traffickers in the span of 6 months. There is no reason to think this year will be any different. Often police use undercover sting operations – tactics where an undercover detective posts an ad online posing as a bored or lonely young person – with the end goal of ensnaring potential offenders into committing a host of potential crimes, including:

  • Attempted Sexual Conduct of a Minor, a class 3 felony, A.R.S. § 13-1405;
  • Aggravated Luring of a Minor, a class 2 felony, A.R.S. 13-3506(A); 
  • Child Sex Trafficking, a class 2 felony, A.R.S. § 13-3212, or a class 5 felony, A.R.S. § 13-3212(B)(3); 
  • Luring a Minor for Sexual Exploitation, a class 3 felony, A.R.S. § 13-3554; 
  • Furnishing Harmful Items to Minors – Internet Activity, a class 4 felony, A.R.S. § 13-3506.01; 
  • Money Laundering in the first degree, a class 2 felony, in the second degree, a class 3 felony, and in the third degree, a Class 6 felony, A.R.S. § 13-2317;
  • Solicitation of Prostitution, a class 1 misdemeanor, A.R.S. § 13-3214; and/or
  • Escort Violations.

The typical progression of a sex sting is as follows: Law Enforcement posts an online ad, the undercover detective waits for an unsuspecting suspect to take the bait. Then, through crafty conversations, the detective creates an environment that allows for the topic of sex to dominate the conversation.  Law enforcement’s goal is to get someone who shows interest to agree to a meeting for a sexual encounter that is illegal.  When the person shows up for the meeting, he or she is arrested.  After the arrest, detectives will attempt to conduct an audio and video recorded interview of the person in hopes of gathering additional evidence to show the person’s intentions and that the encounter was not a mistake. Police will also obtain the person’s phone and anything on his or her person or in his or her vehicle that might support the charges.  They may then apply for a warrant to search the contents of the cell phone seeking additional evidence.    

In Arizona sex sting operations come in all different varieties.  Thus, the only way to avoid being stung in a sex sting operation is to NOT engage in interactions with unknown parties through the internet, and always confirm the age of the person that you are interacting with online to ensure he/she is an adult.  Here are a few red flags that an online interaction may in fact be an undercover police sting operation:

  1. The person communicated with an underage person on a website, chat room, online game, and/or on apps such as Locanto, Skout, MeetMe, Bumble, LiveMe, Ask.fm, Grindr, Holla, Badoo, Whisper, Escort Alligator/List Crawler, Craigslist, Facebook Messenger, Hot or Not, Omegle, Hoop, Tinder, ChatRoulette, and/or Kik; 
  2. The person being communicated with says they are a minor, but their profile says something different;
  3. The person being communicated with asks to switch to a mobile phone;
  4. The offer of a sexual encounter sounds too good to be true;
  5. The person being communicated with steers the person into a conversation about sex and gets the person to specify specific acts they want done;
  6. The person being communicated with tries to confirm an offer for sex acts with an acceptance through money or some other benefit;
  7. The person’s use of language is overly sophisticated for the age group they are portraying to be; 
  8. The person’s language is dumbed down with slang, misspellings and shorthand to mimic a minor’s language;
  9. The person being communicated with says they are a runaway, or their parents are out of town;
  10. The person tells you his/her “real” age; has you acknowledge that you understood their age; and/or asks you if you are okay with the age;
  11. The person offers their child for sex;
  12. The person asks to exchange photos;
  13. The person asks the other to bring a specific item to demonstrate the acknowledgment of the person being underage such as cigarettes or beer;
  14. The person being communicated with asks to meet in a public place; and/or
  15. The person asks particular questions about what you will be driving or wearing.

Anyone can fall prey to these sorts of sting operations:

Some additional examples include: a 2018 Super Bowl sting operation in Minneapolis (“Operation Guardian Angel”) resulted in the arrest of 94 men, most of whom had no criminal history or only minor traffic violations. A 2021 Super Bowl sting operation in Florida (“Operation Interception”) resulted in the arrest of a fireman, active military members, a banker, and a Christian schoolteacher, among others. 

So don’t get caught in a trafficking jam this Super Bowl season. If you or a loved one believe you may have been ensnared by one of these online interactions in Arizona, you should contact an attorney immediately. Castillo Law has experienced attorneys who can help. You may reach us at 480-206-5204 to discuss your Arizona case with our attorneys and how we may assist you.