Sheriff’s
Deputy Colin Ingraham of Hidden Meadows was honored recently
with a Certificate of Commendation by San Diego County Sheriff
William D. Gore for actions he took last year during a prostitution
investigation.
Ingraham is the son of Valley Center resident Roger Ingraham.
According to the commendation on March 17, 2008, Deputy Ingraham
was conducting a follow up on his in-call prostitution investigation.
While checking a listing on Craigslist he found a prostitute
he had been monitoring was posting from a hotel in San Marcos.
Since she had an active arrest warrant he called to arrange
a “date” and when he arrived he took her into custody.
Inside the room he located a laptop computer being used to generate
additional on-line posts. He collected the computer and a cell
phone, which later provided evidence in the case.
During a follow-up at the Sheriff’s station, the deputy
learned that the girl was 18 and had been recruited into prostitution
when she was 15 and then brought across the country from Tennessee.
He inquired about another girl who appeared to be a minor and
learned that she was 17 and had been brought to California from
Florida. He also learned that she was work in the Los Angeles
area.
Ingraham contacted the L.A. police vice unit, which assisted
in locating and arresting the 17-year-old. Once she was in custody,
Ingraham changed his focus to a man known as Christopher Young,
who had allegedly recruited and transported the girls across
the country.
The deputy met with an FBI special agent from the Orange County
FBI office. This agent took Ingraham’s report and prepared
a prosecution report for the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District
of California. This resulted in a federal indictment and arrest
warrant for sex trafficking of children.
While monitoring jail phone calls, Ingraham overheard Young
tell one of his girls he was eating with a group of pimps at
“the circle,” which is slang for Hotel Circle. Ingraham
once again checked Craigslist and found tow girls with active
postings in Hotel circle that he suspected of working for Young.
He coordinated with the San Diego Police Dept.’s vice
unit to search for Young and within two hours he was in custody.
Once booked into federal custody, fingerprints revealed that
Young had four active felony arrest warrants in Florida under
his true identify, Dwayne Lawson.
Federal prosecution is pending in this case and Lawson faces
a minimum prison sentence of ten years to life and additional
jeopardy for his cases from Florida.
