In response to complaints of prostitution activity in Castaic, 16 people were arrested Thursday afternoon by a sweep done by the sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, Vice team and Santa Clarita deputies.

The activities have been observed by residents in the area at all times of the day, prompting the operation that was conducted on Castaic Road near the truck stops.

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Sixteen adult men were taken into custody on suspicion of prostitution or loitering with the intent to commit prostitution.

One of the suspects faces additional charges of felony possession of a controlled substance; another man was arrested and given a citation for a misdemeanor narcotics violation.

In addition, one man was wanted by Federal Immigration and Customers Enforcement regarding a prior deportation and another was wanted for an L.A. County Probation violation.

This is the second operation of this type conducted in Castaic in 2011. Future operations will be conducted to deter this type of activity.

No names of those arrested were made available by the sheriff’s department.