Missing Girl Found, Human Trafficking Suspect Arrested in Los Angeles

Police in Los Angeles said Monday that they found a lost girl while they were arresting a person suspected of trafficking people.

The 17-year-old victim was last seen at her home in Irvine on April 28. That’s when the Anaheim Police Department said they started their investigation.

Investigators in Orange County found out that the girl, whose name was not made public, might have been being used for commercial sex.

The police started looking for the lost girl and looking into possible human trafficking.

The girl and her trafficker were found together in Los Angeles the next day, April 29. They were both from Orange County.

Police named the suspect as Alex Polidore, 23, of Hawthorne and said that he is a convicted felon. They did not give many other details about the arrest.

Investigators found the girl, but it wasn’t clear what her health state was right away. They then booked Polidore at the Anaheim Police Department Detention Facility for violating his parole and committing multiple human trafficking crimes.

The Orange County District Attorney’s Office officially charged Polidore with selling a child on May 1. Police said he is still being held on $1 million bail.

The National Human Trafficking Resource Centre Hotline can be reached at 888-373-7888, or you can call your local police station if you or someone you know has been a victim of human trafficking.