La Crescenta man among those arrested in human trafficking sting
A La Crescenta man was arrested by police last week as part of a human trafficking sting held in Ventura.
Christopher Allen Bouchard, 49, was picked up by authorities in the 2100 block of South Victoria Avenue after allegedly engaging in sexually explicit conversation with one of several detectives posing as underage girls in an Internet chatroom for teenagers.
According to a statement from the Ventura Police Department, the arrest was part of a weekend-long sting from Jan. 27 to 29 to capture sexual predators.
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January was first proclaimed as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month by President Barack Obama in 2010.
“Police departments across the state of California were encouraged to conduct operations to rescue victims of sex slavery and human trafficking, as well as target sexual predators,” according to the statement.
Two other men were taken into custody during the weekend, 48-year-old Reynal Reginio Guillen of Sherman Oaks and 33-year-old Jose Juan Ramualdo-Posadas of Corona.
The men had supposedly agreed to meet and pick up the undercover officers at a location they believed was the girl’s home. All three were arrested without incident.
Members of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, district attorney’s office and the county’s Human Trafficking Enforcement Team also participated in the sting.
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Andy Nguyen, andy.nguyen@latimes.com
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
