By Greg Moran
SAN DIEGO — Six years ago, prosecutors in the San Diego federal courts filed fewer than a dozen cases involving child sex trafficking and pornography.
By last year, the number rose to 71 cases — a 545 percent increase — and included a massive racketeering case targeting a North County gang.
A federal program focusing on child exploitation and the work of a local law enforcement task force are credited with the surge in prosecutions.
Through July of this year, 45 cases have been filed, a pace slightly ahead of last year’s, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
One of the cases ended Thursday when Carlos Alberto Garcia pleaded guilty in federal court to using two 17-year-old girls as prostitutes in September and November, posting pictures of them and advertising their availability on websites.
Garcia, 20, pleaded to a single charge of sex trafficking of a child and faces a sentence of 10 years to life in prison.