Seven men from five Southern California cities were arrested after Riverside County authorities ran an operation designed to catch people seeking to pay for sex around Lake Elsinore. Officials said deputies also identified a potential trafficking victim during the sweep and connected that person with victim services and resources.
According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station Special Enforcement Team teamed up with the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force on October 22, 2026, to run what the department called a comprehensive “John” prostitution operation. The sheriff’s department said the effort was aimed squarely at demand — identifying and arresting the buyers rather than the people being sold for sex. MyNewsLA reported that the sting took place “last week” at unspecified locations throughout Lake Elsinore.
The sheriff’s department reported seven arrests for prostitution-related offenses. The arrestees ranged in age from 20 to 43, according to Patch, and came from Corona, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Perris and Wildomar.
Who Was Arrested
The sheriff’s department identified those taken into custody as Abraham Reyes, 25, of Perris; Daniel Felix, 22, of Lake Elsinore; Duston Schafer, 37, of Perris; Rafael Espinoza, 20, of Perris; Victo Divas Cruz, 43, of Wildomar; Fernando Orozco, 43, of Corona; and Erasmo Morales, 34, of Menifee. As MyNewsLA reported, the seven suspects were generally booked on suspicion of solicitation of prostitution, issued misdemeanor citations to appear in court on a future date, and then released from custody.
Authorities said the operation also turned up something beyond the arrests themselves: a potential trafficking victim who was identified during the sting and offered victim services and resources, the sheriff’s department said. The outlet also reported that Lake Elsinore Station deputies worked alongside the anti-trafficking task force personnel specifically to target individuals seeking to pick up prostitutes.
Framing Demand as the Problem
The station’s stated approach — zeroing in on buyers rather than the people selling sex — tracks with comments previously attributed to Jarrod Meissen, who said prostitution is not a victimless crime and that sex trafficking victims often experience severe emotional, physical and sexual abuse, including being physically and sexually assaulted by the very people soliciting them. The sheriff’s department said it intends to keep working proactively to reduce future demand for sex trafficking by continuing to identify and arrest sex buyers.
Part of a Bigger Pattern in Riverside County
This is not Lake Elsinore’s first such operation. A similar crackdown in 2025 netted 20 arrests, according to KESQ, with 19 men and one woman taken into custody from 11 Southern California cities including Corona, Hemet, Lake Elsinore, Los Angeles, Menifee, Murrieta, Perris, Riverside, San Jacinto, Temecula and Westminster.
The county’s enforcement push also connects to a statewide effort. During the 2025 Operation Reclaim & Rebuild, an annual multi-agency initiative timed to National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, Riverside County logged 112 adult arrests for suspected prostitution solicitation, pimping, pandering, warrants, narcotics possession and other trafficking-related crimes, according to the Press-Enterprise. That same statewide sweep produced 547 arrests overall and contact with 177 victims, with 13 victims in Riverside County offered services and resources and five more assisted in San Bernardino County.
The sheriff’s department said anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Deputy Liebzeit at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station at 951-245-3300.
