Police Arrest 31 in Prostitution Sweep

Thirty-one men were arrested for allegedly soliciting female prostitutes in Sylmar, Los Angeles police said Saturday.

The men were arrested Friday night at the corner of San Fernando Road and Bleeker Street, an area with a high concentration of motels, Sgt. Steve Warren said.

“We received numerous complaints from area residents about prostitution and focused on male suspects,” he said. “There’s been a lot of conspicuous activity of lone male motorists approaching female pedestrians.”

Undercover female officers posed as prostitutes in front of a strip of motels near a residential neighborhood, Warren said.

The sweep lasted from 5 p.m. on Friday until 3 a.m. Saturday, police said.

“There are girls standing on the road all the time, day and night,” said Tom Krivinko, manager of a Motel 6 in the 12700 block of Encinitas Avenue near Roxford Street, several blocks from San Fernando Road.

“You see the same ones standing out there all of the time,” Krivinko said of the female prostitutes. “Every now and then they come in here, but we don’t let them stay.”

Residents and merchants recently met with police and complained about the prostitution, Krivinko said.

While he supported the efforts by police to chase away prostitutes and their customers, Krivinko said “I don’t think that will make a dent--they’ll just come back there again.”