7 men arrested in SPD Aurora Avenue prostitution bust

Seven men were arrested in a Seattle Police Department (SPD) prostitution bust on Aurora Ave. N.

Detectives with SPD’s Human Trafficking Unit partnered with patrol officers, detectives, and the Community Response Group to thwart prostitution solicitation along the Aurora corridor, according to an SPD blotter post.

On Tuesday, more than 20 Seattle officers were deployed to Aurora Ave. after community reports of prostitution.

“During these operations, a suspect or ‘buyer’ agrees or offers to engage in sexual acts in exchange for money,” authorities wrote.

Officers arrested seven men for prostitution loitering and patronizing. Police noted the men ranged in age from 22 to 64 years old, with the majority in their 20s.

SPD also pointed out that only three of the men lived in Seattle, with several of them driving from surrounding cities.

Human trafficking involves using force, fraud, or coercion to compel someone to perform labor or engage in a commercial sex act. Commercial sex involving a minor is sex trafficking, regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion is involved.

The police department has more information on human trafficking on its website.

Seattle closed streets near Aurora Ave. amid gun violence, sex trafficking concerns

In June, Seattle officials decided to close four streets near Aurora Avenue in response to months of escalating gun violence, open sex trafficking, and intense frustration from neighbors who said they were left to fend for themselves.

Residents living near Aurora had been sounding the alarm for weeks. They reported gunfire in the middle of the night, bullets striking homes and passing dangerously close to families, and ongoing sex trafficking and exploitation of young women and girls in plain sight.

City leaders framed the move as an urgent step, not a final solution.

The following weekend, six people were arrested and charged along Aurora Ave. after officers learned they were looking to exploit children.

The arrests came from a coalition of public safety partners launching a coordinated outreach effort to go after those responsible for trafficking and exploitation, and to provide services to victims of trafficking.

Contributing: Julia Dallas and Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest; James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio

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