MODESTO, Calif. — As 12 people were arrested at a Salida hotel on charges ranging from pimping, solicitation, and prostitution on Friday night, a 21-year-old woman in Modesto noticed two familiar faces as ABC10 posted their mug shots on Facebook.
"When I sent her the article, she's like, 'Mom! Those are two of the men [who approached me]!'" the 21-year-old's mother said.
Her mom, who asked ABC10 to hide her identity, said she believes two of the 12 people who were arrested approached her daughter at a Modesto car wash back in August, just 15 minutes away from the Salida hotel where the sting happened Friday night.
"She was vacuuming out her car and they approached her asking, they needed help getting gas," she said.
She declined and got back into her car to leave, but as she was pulling out of the car wash parking lot she looked in the rearview mirror and noticed the two men following her, her mom said
"So on her way, she automatically had the instinct to call the non-emergency number because she's like this isn't right. So, she gave them the description of the gentlemen, the car, and the license plate number," the mom said.
She even told authorities that she was on her way to Starbucks and Target in Riverbank, just in case.
"She went into Target, approached the security guard, told the security guard what was happening," she said.
She was able to finish her shopping and saw a police presence as she left the store but never figured out what happened to those men until she saw their mug shots on Monday connected to a human trafficking operation seven weeks later.
"In her mind, she's like they could have took me. And as a mom, that's the worst nightmare that you want for your child to hear and that was pretty much one of my worst fears of something happening," she said.
According to the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Office, the two men the 21-year-old pointed out weren't caught showing up to pay for sex, but instead were caught facilitating on Friday night.
Melvin Craig and Raymon Jones were two of three men arrested on pimping charges.
"It's kind of a wake up call still just, we have to be prepared," she said.
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