Apparent pleas for “help” and other concerning words spelled out with building material and spotted on Google Earth in a vacant lot in Los Angeles have sparked concern across the internet.
The bizarre messages, visible in images at the coordinates 34°03’18’N 118°13’30’W on Google Earth, were found in a lot near the San Bernardino Freeway and were captured in November 2023, according to ABC 7.
The signs, which began circulating social media last week, included various words and slogans, such as “HELP” and “TRAFICO,” which means “traffic” in Spanish, “FEDERAL,” “FBI,” “L-A-P-D,” and “TERRORISMO.”
The worrying messages instantly had people concerned that the site was an area that could be holding human trafficking victims.
California is the eighth-largest state in the US with the most victims of human trafficking per 100,000 people, according to the Joslyn Law Firm.
However, the Los Angeles Police Department quickly revealed that there was “no evidence of human trafficking.”
“We’ve had several different contacts with the individual you speak of. He has refused housing or a mental health evaluation,” the LAPD Central Division wrote on X Monday.
“There is no evidence of Human Trafficking. He has been at the location for a few years.”
The outlet also confirmed that the words had been spelled out in the empty lots for over a year and found satellite images from the same lot dating back to June 2023 to February 2024.
It remains to be seen if police are investigating the location or if the calls for “help” are legitimate.
The department was responding to a video uploaded by @LAGuy310, who claimed to be speaking with a woman near the lot about the concerning messages.
“I was filming because everybody wants to know why there is the ‘Help’ sign,” he told the woman.
The unidentified woman told him the messages were being spelled out by a man named “Jose” and that he’s been doing it “for years.”
“He’s the one who puts [help] all the time,” she shared. “He writes it everywhere… It’s been years.”
However, she didn’t share why he spelled out the messages.
The user also updated his followers to reveal that he’s working on tracking down “Jose” through other “homeless people.”
“I am in contact with the owner of an adjacent lot they will give me full access as well as interviews with their workers to see if they know anything.”
Josette Caruso, who has over 75,700 followers on X, posted on Sunday, “Apparently they’re doing a lot of construction in that area and people, both homeless and not and small businesses are being displaced.”
She speculated that it’s “mostly Hispanic people living there and many of them have lived and had businesses in the area for 30+ years and are being forced out in favor of this construction.”
“It may be a homeless man mad at being forced to move his encampment like some have said, it may be several locals coming together and trying to scare away the construction, it may even be a street artist like some L.A. residents have speculated,” she wrote.
“But looking at the pictures and the sheer size of some of the materials used to create these “signs” I’d be willing to bet it’s not anyone being trafficked and legitimately looking for help… it’s too obvious and would put them in too much danger. I’d put my money more on some sort of protest from an angry inhabitant(s) of the area.”