Authorities arrested three people last week on suspicion of trafficking a 17-year-old girl and a 19-year-old woman for sex in Anaheim and other cities throughout the state, police said Tuesday, Dec. 24.

Officers working with the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force were notified of the alleged prostitution operation Sunday, Dec. 15, Anaheim Police Sgt. Shane Carringer said. They made contact with the victims, as well as two women who were both arrested at a local hotel on suspicion of pandering and sex trafficking a minor over the age of 16.

APD and the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force (OCHTTF) recently arrested 3 subjects for the pimping, pandering and human trafficking of a juvenile and adult female. Kendell Morris, Kaylyn Melendez and Carelli Barajas have all been arrested for a variety of felony charges pic.twitter.com/1jcguDS7FA — Anaheim PD (@AnaheimPD) December 24, 2019

Those suspects were identified as Kaylyn Melendez, 20, of Los Banos, and Carelli Barajas, 19, of Morgan Hill, in an Anaheim Police Department news release. Melendez and Barajas were held at the Orange County Women’s Central Jail in place of $70,000 and $75,000 bail, respectively, as of Tuesday evening.

The investigation led police and deputies to believe that Kendell Morris, 30, of Stockton, had recruited the victims, groomed them to work in the sex trade, and had acted as the ringleader of the operation, Carringer said. Authorities believe he supervised Melendez and Barajas as they traveled from city to city with their victims to conduct their illicit business.

Morris was taken into custody in Modesto by Anaheim Police vice officers and members of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force Thursday, Dec. 19. He was booked on suspicion of multiple offenses including pimping, pandering and trafficking a minor over the age of 16, Carringer said. He was in custody in lieu of $1 million bail as of Tuesday evening.

No additional victims had been identified, but authorities said investigators have not ruled out the possibility that others had been recruited into the sex trade by the suspects.