Lifeguard helps save trafficked woman forced to solicit sex at CA beaches, feds say
A San Diego lifeguard helped save three women forced into prostitution after one woman approached them, saying she had been trafficked from Las Vegas to California, federal prosecutors said.
When the woman asked for help at Mission Beach on Sept. 12, the lifeguard alerted San Diego police — leading to the city’s Human Trafficking Task Force taking action, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
“This brave woman saved herself and others by trusting a San Diego lifeguard who immediately jumped into action,” U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a July 25 news release.
Authorities “quickly” found and rescued two other women at a hotel where the man accused of trafficking them, David Warren, was arrested, according to prosecutors.
Now Warren, 37, of Las Vegas, will spend the next several years behind bars after prosecutors said he brought the women to San Diego and — using violence, threats and emotional abuse — had them solicit sex at the city’s beaches.
Warren was sentenced on July 25 to 10 years in prison on charges of transportation for purpose of prostitution and coercion and enticement, according to prosecutors.
His defense attorney didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on July 26.
The woman who informed the lifeguard she was being trafficked by Warren later told investigators that she was “taken from Las Vegas” by him, according to an affidavit written by a Department of Homeland Security special agent.
In Las Vegas, she said she was working as a prostitute when Warren came up to her, slapped her face and “told her to get into his vehicle because she was going to ‘trap’ for him,” the affidavit says.
The special agent wrote that Warren was referring to “earning money through commercial sex.”
Warren took the woman and two others to San Diego on Sept. 11, according to his plea agreement.
When they arrived in San Diego, Warren gave the women blue pills that were potentially fentanyl inside a motel room, according to the affidavit.
After the one woman fell asleep, “Warren began choking her with both hands to wake her up because it was time to work,” the affidavit says.
According to Warren’s plea agreement, he wanted the women to make $5,000 in a week through prostitution in San Diego.
When Warren was booked in the San Diego Jail, a photo was taken of the tattoos covering his back, according to the affidavit.
The tattoos show “two nude women back-to-back with chains around their neck,” surrounded by money bags, with “a man holding both chains in his hand,” the affidavit says.
The special agent wrote in the affidavit that “these types of tattoos are specific to the prostitution sub-culture where the pimp/trafficker shows his dominance over women.”
Ahead of Warren’s sentencing, his court-appointed defense attorney, Heather L. Beugen, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that “Warren cannot change the past, or reverse the effects his actions in September 2023, have had on the three victims in this case. The only thing he can do now is repent and work towards rehabilitating himself.”
“Warren is remorseful for the hurt his actions caused the victims, and he is ashamed of himself,” the sentencing memo says.
In a statement, San Diego Marine Safety Captain Maureen Hodges spoke about the lifeguard who helped rescue the women, saying “this circumstance was not the typical rescue our lifeguards perform.”
“However, we were glad to be of service and keep this victim safe while notifying San Diego Police that she needed assistance,” Hodges added.
This story was originally published July 26, 2024 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Lifeguard helps save trafficked woman forced to solicit sex at CA beaches, feds say."
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