Castaic man arrested on suspicion of rape
Detectives with the Special Victims Unit confirmed Monday they’re investigating the claims of a woman who said she was coerced into a sexual relationship by a man who said he was going to help her attain citizenship.
The victim, a 37-year-old woman, reported the allegation to the Sheriff’s Department on Saturday, according to Sgt. Joseph Mesa, who leads the Special Victims Unit for the department’s North County region. He did not have her place of origin immediately available, he said in a phone interview Monday.
The preliminary report filed over the weekend indicated the alleged victim was seeking her citizenship status and had a relationship with the suspect, Frank Vielman, a 66-year-old Castaic man, according to investigators.
After investigating the report of human trafficking, deputies arrested Vielman at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department custody records available online.
The exact time frame for the alleged assaults was not immediately available.
“She’s from out of the country, and he helped her get here. So in return, he forces her to commit sexual acts,” Mesa said, adding that detectives believe he paid money in exchange for her arrival. “In short, he threatened the victim to have sex.”
Vielman is in custody at Men’s Central Jail in Downtown Los Angeles, where he’s being held in lieu of $1 million bail, as of the publication of this story.
Human trafficking is a crime that experts believe is on the rise and recently targeted by legislation that was signed into law in September. Senate Bill 963 requires care centers and hospitals to create policy and procedure around identifying such victims and ways to report the situation confidentially.
The number of people prosecuted for human trafficking more than doubled from 2012 to 2022 (from 805 to 1,656 persons), according to the Department of Justice. The number of persons convicted of a human trafficking offense increased from 578 persons in 2012 to 1,118 persons in 2022.
The SCV Human Trafficking Task Force works with groups and organizations, including College of the Canyons, Valencia Hills Community Church and ZOE International, to raise awareness in the community about such crimes.
One of its recent projects involved working with local urgent care managers to talk to them about their policies for identifying human-trafficking victims in compliance with the recent law, according to Larry Schallert, a former adviser for the group at College of the Canyons.
In February, the human-trafficking task force followed up with local hotels to ensure their compliance with a similar law.
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office is holding a workshop 1:30 p.m. Jan. 15 on the topic called “Human Trafficking: Services Provided Through the Bureau of Victim Services.”
The idea is to share the resources from the Victims Services Bureau that are available to victims and survivors of human trafficking, according to an email alert from the DA’s Office.
The Department of Public Social Services offers the Trafficking and Crime Victim Assistance Program for eligible noncitizen victims of human trafficking, domestic violence, and other serious crimes. Eligible victims can receive help with cash aid, food assistance, health care, employment and supportive services.
The SCV Human Traffickincg Task Force can be reached at 661-775-1885.
✍🏼 PERRY SMITH | JANUARY 6, 2025 | 5:54 PM