Two San Diego men have been arrested and accused of operating two separate criminal commercial sex enterprises to lure women into prostitution with offers of drugs and money, San Diego police said Tuesday.
Dale Vinzant, 68, accused of operating San Diego Adult Service Provider, was arrested on Friday in the Mission Bay area. Codefendant, Christian Koalani, 66, the owner of American Escort Company, was arrested in Pacific Beach on Thursday.
Police described the men as ringleaders in San Diego's booming sex trafficking industry that brings in about $810 million a year.
Police said the two men have been investigated by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force for a year. The men’s enterprises are separate, but they are “known to each other,” San Diego police said.
Vinzant’s enterprise was an internet meeting place allowing customers and prostitutes a venue to link up and negotiate a sex transaction. The customers could then write and post a review on the site, police said.
Called San Diego Adult Service Provider, the business was in operation for at least a decade and had about 50,000 members who paid $15 a month to view, buy and review women for sex, police said.
Police said in a news release Koalani would use that internet meeting place to advertise his own escort service “and ultimately profit from the sex acts provided by the young women he recruited and directed.”
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Koalani has also written a book called “Story of an American Escort,” which police said chronicled his sex trade.
Authorities have served a series of search warrants over the past several days and seized evidence on computers and other electronic media.
Police said San Diego Adult Service Provider has 10 days to redirect clients to a website that informs victims and the public how to find help to prevent sex trafficking.
Both suspects were arrested on suspicion of pimping, pandering, money laundering and conspiracy charges.
In addition, an adult female, not named, has been arrested in Virginia in connection to the case.
Koalini also faces a charge of rape of a minor.
Reached for comment, Koalini's defense attorney said his client isn't guilty. Attempts to reach Vinzant's attorney were not immediately successful.
