Man arrested for having sex with drugged 14-year-old girl, deputies say

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It didn't take CHP officers long to realize that a car stopped in the middle of Belmont Avenue early Tuesday morning was posing much more than just a road hazard.

The Fresno County Sheriff's Office says inside the Chrysler Sedan, officers found 22-year-old Moises Vaca of Stockton having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

The girl was sent to the hospital for treatment of an unknown substance.

It's still not known what the relationship is between the man and the teenager or how long they have been in contact, but authorities believe he traveled from Stockton to meet up with her.

"We think there might be ties to human trafficking in this case," says Tony Botti with the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. "We do know that our victim belongs to a group home in the Fresno area. Just based on our experiences, when you have victims like this and just looking at the circumstances of the suspect, there might be a bigger story here."

The man's 18-month-old son was also found asleep in the back seat of the car. He is now in the care of Child Protective Services.

Debra Rush founded Breaking the Chains, an organization that helps survivors of human Trafficking.

"The fact that this child came from a group home made her 80 percent more likely to be trafficked," she said.

She says Fresno's location between LA and the Bay Area makes it a hot spot for sex trafficking.

"We see buyers who don't want to be exposed in their own communities flooding into here," she said.

Vaca is now facing multiple felony charges, including rape of a drugged victim and sex with a minor.

This is the first time law enforcement has dealt with him locally, but detectives will be combing through his past. They say they still have more to learn from the victim.