An Oakland, California community is in shock after repeatedly seeing groups of suspected prostitutes and victims of human trafficking requesting services outside a Catholic elementary school.
“I got the call saying, ‘Mr. Gallo, I can’t get into my house because the pimp is blocking my driveway,'” Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo told ABC 7 about the weekly calls he gets from the East Oakland residents. “It’s constant”.
The Oakland Police Department is stepping up patrols outside St. Anthony’s K-8 Catholic School after parents and school leaders raised the alarm about young, scantily clad women and girls seen walking near East 15th Street in Oakland.
Last week, ABC 7 reported that when the parents arrived at the primary school on Monday morning, an alleged prostitute was already near the school, apparently soliciting right in front of the school’s gate. But the scene is not uncommon.
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Entrance to St. Anthony’s Catholic Elementary School in Oakland, California.
(Google Maps)
“It is every day, during all periods of the day,” local mother Rosa Vargas told the outlet.
Vargas said the women are often dressed in skimpy clothing, and sometimes even naked, and often stand right outside the school gate. The pimps have even followed her down the street on a couple of occasions, she said.
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Nearby International Boulevard has long been plagued by prostitution and other crime, but construction on East 12th Street has pushed prostitutes into residential neighborhoods, ABC 7 reported.
East 15th Street near St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School in Oakland, California.
(Google Maps)
Some of the girls are only 15 or 16 years old, according to Gallo, which has raised concerns about human trafficking.
“We have seen up to 20 women walking down this street,” Gallo said. “Young, young ladies.”
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Oakland City Councilman Noel Gallo
(City of Oakland)
Rodney Pierre-Antoine, who oversees a network of local Catholic elementary schools, including St. Anthony’s, said police are in a difficult position to take charge of the situation, citing a recently enacted bill that prohibits officers from making arrests. to persons under suspicion. of prostitution
“Her hands are somewhat cuffed,” Pierre-Antoine said.
The bill, authored by Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener, was intended to protect transgender women who Wiener says are disproportionately targeted by police. The law went into effect on January 1.
Local police have since said the bill prevents them from rescuing girls who have been trafficked, ABC 7 reported.
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“That’s absolutely wrong. SB 357 has been in effect for 30 days, this problem has been around much longer. So, frankly, I think it’s a dodge for the police to say that this brand-new law is giving them prevents him from doing anything,” Wiener told ABC7 when asked about police concerns.
California State Senator Scott Wiener
(Scott Wiener)
After the outlet reported concerns about human trafficking and prostitution near a school, the FBI said it will install additional surveillance cameras in the area, according to Gallo. An FBI official added in a comment to ABC7 that the alleged trafficking could be gang related.
“In many large cities, there are places called the walk or the walk, this is where the transaction takes place,” said Robert Tripp, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Francisco division.
“Usually the dealer and the person in charge are the same thing,” Tripp said. “This crime depends a lot on the relationship between the abuser and the victim. It’s a very tight chain of command.”
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Sources told the outlet that the FBI has already picked up a 13-year-old girl on East 15th Street.
Gallo said he accompanied police on a drive to witness the prostitution and saw a van with Nevada license plates drive into the area early in the morning and leave at night.
Police investigate a fatal shooting on 14th Street near Broadway in downtown Oakland, California on September 20, 2022.
(Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
“When I was out on the street with the police taking a ride, I saw the van pull up and I saw Nevada license plates. They were bringing them in from out of Nevada… I saw five, six girls get out of the van,” Gallo said.
“At eight o’clock at night, I saw them all get back in the truck, continue, and we followed them and they went to the freeway and continued,” Gallo said.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the St. Anthony School, the FBI, the Oakland and Wiener Police Department Monday morning but did not immediately receive responses for additional comment.
