Parents Sold Girl, 13, for Sex, Police Say : Crackdown: Teen-ager’s mother and stepfather were among 87 arrested during a five-day drug and prostitution sweep conducted by police in Anaheim. Action was prompted by residents’ complaints.

An Anaheim couple who allegedly offered their 13-year-old daughter for prostitution were arrested along with 85 other people during a five-day police crackdown in the Beach Boulevard and West Lincoln Avenue area.

Katrina McLaughlin, 37, and her husband, Timothy Jal McLaughlin, 27, who was described as the teen-ager’s stepfather, were arrested Thursday on charges of pimping and pandering, said Lt. Steve Sain of the Anaheim Police Department’s special operations division. The teen-ager, who was not identified because of her age, was taken into protective custody and not arrested, Sain said.

Although she was not arrested, the teen-ager allegedly was doing the work of a prostitute for her parents, who collected the money, said Sain and Bret Colson, an Anaheim public information officer.

“Fortunately, we don’t run into this very often,” Sain said.

Police arrested Katrina McLaughlin when “she unknowingly solicited a police officer for prostitution,” Sain said. After questioning her, they arrested her husband.

The busy commercial district of motels and hotels along Beach Boulevard in west Anaheim was targeted, along with several other parts of the city, after numerous complaints from residents of Lincoln Avenue, Sain said.

An area of Beach Boulevard between Lincoln Avenue and Ball Road has had many recent reports of narcotics dealing and prostitution, Sain said.

“People come out on the street to get their morning newspapers and see used condoms on the sidewalk,” Sain said. “We decided to get as many investigators together as possible and try to take the street back from the criminals.”

After a letter was sent to area motel and hotel owners asking for their assistance, a 38-investigator task force launched the sweep on the night of Aug. 6, Sain said. The crackdown began with what Sain called a “John program” in which undercover female officers posing as prostitutes on the street arrested 28 men for soliciting prostitution, Sain said.

The crackdown resumed last Wednesday and continued through Saturday, resulting in 87 arrests--62 for prostitution, 21 for narcotics-related violations, two for parole violation and two on outstanding warrants, Sain said. The majority of the narcotics arrests were for possession of cocaine and methamphetamine, he said.

Sain said the activity on the street slowed down on Friday after word circulated that many arrests had been made. The crackdown tends to stem vice and narcotics activity temporarily, but it takes the help of the area business owners to stop it, he said.

“First of all, we try to educate the property owners, then follow it with arrests,” Sain said. “If we get continued problems, we could go after the motel and hotel owners.”