Federal and local law enforcement officials Wednesday discussed a multi-agency effort to stamp out a so-called pipeline in which children and young adults in foster care are lured onto streets along the Figueroa corridor in South Los Angeles to work as prostitutes.
The 3. Dozens of YouTube videos show the activity. Since last year, a multi-jurisdictional task force has been focused on the epicenter of human trafficking and criminal activity, aiming to locate and assist trafficking victims, identify, arrest and convict pimps and traffickers, and disrupt buyers of sex services from minors and trafficking victims.
During a news conference, U. These victims are as vulnerable as it gets. What we see is a human rights tragedy playing out every night. This problem reveals a gap in the safety net that should be protecting these children. Roughly young adults leave foster care in Los Angeles County each month because they are turning A lack of housing is one of the reasons young people are victimized by pimps along the Figueroa corridor β because they have no place to go, Bass said.
The Figueroa corridor initiative is designed to help the young women and girls who perform sex work in the area find opportunities and get them off the streets, Estrada said. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles also announced or discussed several cases Wednesday involving the sex trafficking of minors. A record check of two girls in the case revealed that both had been reported as missing juveniles out of California.
He has remained in federal custody since then and pleaded not guilty to the charges against him on on Aug. In another case announced by prosecutors, Nanci Jasmin Castillo, 31, and Jonathan Gonzalez-Reyes, 38, both of Anaheim, are charged in a six-count federal grand jury indictment alleging they befriended a year-old girl, provided her with alcohol, and sexually assaulted her, taking photographs and making videos of the attack.
