Fountain Valley Men Arrested in Prostitution Sting

Two Fountain Valley men were nabbed among the 20 rounded up in an overnight anti-prostitution sting as part of the Orange County District Attorney's Office's crackdown on sex crimes.

Publicizing the names of the men convicted is part of the crackdown, said Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.

"At the very least the significant others or partners or wives of these men ought to know what their partners have been up to or the diseases they've exposed them to," Schroeder said.

Prosecutors are focusing on prostitution because they've noticed an increase in the amount of exploited youths, Schroeder said.

"Many of the prostitutes are exploited minors or young women in difficult circumstances," Schroeder said, adding the office likes to call pimps "modern day slave owners."

Three women officers went undercover as prostitutes in Santa Ana from 10 p.m. until 3 a.m. today along Harbor Boulevard, a notorious prostitution thoroughfare, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.

Usually the department catches 10 to 30 suspects in prostitution stings, Bertagna said.

These types of crackdowns can be expensive and difficult to do because of the staffing, but police did it as part of the District Attorney's new Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) unit's focus on sex crimes, Bertagna said.

The suspects arrested were:

--Herbert Yoneoka, 68, of Fountain Valley;

--Michael Davis, 35, of Fountain Valley;

--David Flores, 32, of Aliso Viejo;

--Ariel Castro, 41, of Santa Ana;

--Paulino Lopez, 47, of Santa Ana;

--Felipe Barrera, 32, of Garden Grove;

--Silvestre Jacob, 40, of Garden Grove;

--Anthony Bello, 18, of Santa Ana;

--Oscar Castaneda, 31, of Santa Ana;

--Omar Moreno, 35, of Santa Ana;

--Noe Hernandez, 34, of Santa Ana;

--Tony Nguyen, 44, of Westminster;

--Luis Ortiz, 27, of Santa Ana;

--Israel Ruiz, 29, of Garden Grove;

--Paulino Martinez, 39, of Santa Ana;

--Christopher Witts, 28, of Upland;

--Jonathan Peralta, 20, of Westminster;

--Heladio Herrera, 20, of Santa Ana;

--David Montano, 31, of Anaheim;

--Rios Francisco, 33, of Santa Ana.

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Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the stage at which the district attorney’s office publicizes the names of the alleged Johns. While police publicized the names of the men arrested, the district attorney’s office publicizes their names after they have been convicted.