Santa Ana motel owners arrested in human trafficking bust

A motel that neighbors called a constant problem for years was the target of a drug and human trafficking bust in Santa Ana earlier this week. 

"I'm excited," resident Desi Reyes said. "It's about that time it got shut down."

The neighborhood association president said he has been waiting for the day when police and code enforcement officers would address the crime and safety issues that have plagued the Sunshine Village Motel along Santa Ana's First Street.

"As you can see, they're apartments across the street, families that live across the street," Reyes said. "They're impacted by the drugs over here. Always complaining about what's going on over here."

Santa Ana Police Department and code enforcement officers boarded up the motel's doors and windows on Tuesday. They also red-tagged the building and declared it unsafe to occupy. Police said the motel owners were arrested for allegedly collecting the proceeds from prostitution and human trafficking. Officers arrested people with warrants and rescued victims from he motel.

"They served the search warrant at four specific rooms where there was believed to be human trafficking," Santa Ana police officer Natalie Garcia said. "Several people were found inside those rooms and were victims, and then code enforcement went door to door at every single room and found that each and every one of them was in violation."

Two women who showed up asking for their belongings said they paid $150 a day to live at the motel. 

"They got us all out in handcuffs," renter Barbara Pincheira said. "Sat us all down. The people who had warrants, they took to jail, and those who didn't, they let us go, but all our belongings are inside, and they let us leave with nothing."

Police said no one is allowed on the property because it is hazardous and their criminal investigation is still ongoing.   

Mayor Valerie Amezcua said the road has "been the hub of drug use, prostitution and human trafficking."

"People walking around, you can see them by the bus stops, sticking a needle in their arm, passed out," she said. "That is not how we're going to live in Santa Ana."