Couple accused of sex trafficking 14-year-old in Sacramento and Bay Area, sheriff’s officials say
Detectives on Wednesday arrested a 31-year-old man and his 26-year-old girlfriend who are accused of sex trafficking a 14-year-old forced into sex work in Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland.
The arrests this week were the result of a sex trafficking investigation initiated in October that involved victims of ages 14 and 12, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday afternoon in a news release.
Sheriff’s officials said both minors were willing to receive help from authorities and cooperated with detectives from the sheriff’s Special Investigations Bureau.
The detectives identified Jacob Andrew Reyes, 31, as the suspect in the sex trafficking investigation. Sheriff’s officials said detectives learned that Reyes had repeatedly sexually assaulted the 14-year-old, and he victimized both minors as sex workers in Sacramento, San Francisco and Oakland.
Detectives later learned that the suspect’s girlfriend, Itzel Anahi Medina-Nieto, also was involved in the sex trafficking of the 14-year-old, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday filed a criminal complaint against the couple in Sacramento Superior Court. Arrest warrants were obtained for the couple.
The sheriff’s detectives found and arrested the couple, and they were booked early Thursday at the Sacramento County Main Jail. Reyes was being held in lieu of $1 million bail, and Medina-Nieto bail amount was set at $500,000.
Reyes was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully causing a minor to engage in a commercial sex act, pimping a person younger than 16 years old engaged in prostitution and pandering by encouraging a minor younger than 16 to commit a crime, jail records show. His charges are all felonies.
Medina-Nieto was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully causing a minor to engage in a commercial sex act, along with a misdemeanor charge of destroying evidence.
Reyes and Medina-Nieto appeared in court Friday afternoon for their arraignment. They were both scheduled to return to court Thursday morning.
Detectives are concerned Reyes and Medina-Nieto may have trafficked or tried to get other minors into sex work, sheriff’s officials said, and the detectives were seeking other possible victims.
Investigators asked anyone with information relevant to the investigation to call the Sheriff’s Office at 916-874-5115 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at 916-443-4357.
This story was originally published February 1, 2024 at 5:12 PM.
