LA's Notorious Child Sex-Trafficking Hub Target Of Major Crackdown

LOS ANGELES – From social workers to FBI agents, a multi-agency task force is taking on a 3.5-mile stretch of Figueroa Street in Los Angeles known for the human trafficking of children and vulnerable young adults in the county's foster system.

City, county and federal officials announced the initiative at a downtown Los Angeles press conference Wednesday, offering stomach-churning examples of depravity taking place in the heart of Los Angeles.

Citing recent cases involving the trafficking of an 11-year-old child and another involving a pimp who branded his moniker onto the faces of trafficking victims, officials vowed to stamp out the notorious Figueroa human trafficking trade by helping to free victims, seeking maximum penalties against pimps, and penalizing customers and the motels that profit from the trade.

Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto described "appalling" street scenes witnessed during a recent night-time ride-along with Los Angeles police.

"Women and girls in various states of undress and a specific stroll for kiddies -- a kiddies stroll," she said. "In the daytime, it was nearly as bad."

“Often, people think of human trafficking as something that happens only in other countries, but it happens in our own City,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

“The Figueroa Corridor area is ground zero for human trafficking and victims are abused and exploited there every day,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “It is imperative that we take an all-hands approach to stop the human trafficking happening right in our backyard.”

"You don't need to look to some far-off country to find it," added Estrada. "It exists right here ... a short distance from downtown Los Angeles and a stone's throw from USC."

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Motel operators, pimps who target foster care youths, and customers along the Figueroa corridor in South Los Angeles are all complicit and face criminal and civil penalties, according to city leaders.

This year, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office issued over 200 citations to Johns in an effort to disrupt demand. Officials also sent 'Dear John' letters to the registered vehicle owners linked to customers of human trafficking.

The 3.5-mile stretch of Figueroa Street stretching from Gage Avenue to Imperial Highway has been a hub for underage sex workers for decades. Women and girls in various states of undress can be seen walking the notorious "stroll" day and night while "johns" drive around the area looking to pick them up. 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.

The effort is not aimed at prosecuting commercial sex workers, officials said.

Estrada added that many of the youths working the streets are "from the foster care system. These victims are as vulnerable as it gets. What we see is a human rights tragedy playing out every night."

Roughly 100 young adults leave foster care in Los Angeles County each month because they are turning 21. At that point, they are frequently vulnerable to pimps, "and the next thing they know is they are being trafficked around the country," according to Bass.

When a young person in a group home turns 21, for example, "we literally pack their bags and put them on the road," Bass said.

She said the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles, primarily a homelessness prevention program, has expanded to serve young adults aging out of the foster care system.

A lack of housing is one of the reasons young people are victimized by pimps along the Figueroa corridor 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 several cases Wednesday involving the sex trafficking of minors. In one, suspected pimp Christian Brandon O'Neal Scurlock, 21, of Moreno Valley, was linked to minors working as commercial sex workers in the Figueroa corridor, according to authorities. In March, police camera footage on Figueroa Street showed O'Neal appearing to yell at a 13-year- old victim, take her clothes, and depart the area, leaving her completely naked on the street, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

He first came to the attention of authorities in Las Vegas.

According to an affidavit filed in federal court, in April 2024, an officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department stopped O’Neal, who had been seen grabbing a young girl by her neck and pushing her into a Mercedes-Benz.

"When the officers approached, they found two minor girls inside the car – one victim was 13 years old and the other victim was 16 years old. Officers saw several condoms inside the car in plain view," according to the affidavit.

A record check of two girls in the case revealed that both had been reported as missing juveniles out of California. Both victims told police that O'Neal had brought them to Las Vegas to provide prostitution services as minor commercial sex workers and that they usually worked on "Fig," short for Figueroa Street. O'Neal required both minor victims to give him the money they earned from prostitution, prosecutors allege.

Last month, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging O'Neal with two counts of sex trafficking of a minor and two counts of transportation of a minor in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution and criminal sexual activity.

In another case, 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 13-year-old girl, provided her with alcohol, and sexually assaulted her, taking photographs and making videos of the attack.

According to the Justice Department, Castillo and Gonzalez-Reyes discussed helping the victim run away from home and possibly trying to find her work on “Fig,” a common reference for the Figueroa Corridor, according to court documents.

Both men are charged with one count of production of child pornography. Castillo is also charged with one count of the use of a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to induce a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of possession of child pornography. Gonzalez-Reyes also is charged with two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Castillo and Gonzalez-Reyes have pleaded not guilty to charges and are scheduled to go to trial in March 2025. They have been in federal custody since June 2024.

In another case, Donavin Dwayne Bradford, 33, of South Los Angeles was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of recruiting and enticing teenage girls for whom he acted as a “pimp” and providing them for commercial sex work.

From the summer of 2021 to February 2022, Bradford trafficked a then-15-year-old girl. As the victim’s “pimp,” Bradford expected the girl to earn him $1,000 per night.

Bradford advertised the girl for commercial sex work on various websites, and customers who responded to the ads were directed to various hotels and motels where they engaged in commercial sex acts with the victim, according to court records.

Bradford assaulted the minor victim when she tried to stop working for him on two separate occasions, according to prosecutors. Bradford also filmed himself engaging in sex acts on two separate occasions with her. From March 2021 to November 2021, Bradford recruited and enticed two other girls – ages 16 and 17 – to engage in commercial sex activity, according to prosecutors.

Bradford was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking with a minor, three counts of sex trafficking of a minor, three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for the purpose of producing a sexually explicit visual depiction, one count of possession of child pornography, and one count of sex trafficking through threats of force, fraud, or coercion.

“Our women, youth and communities deserve better, and this is just the beginning of our focused multi agency effort to stop human trafficking along the Figueroa Corridor,” said Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi.

City News Service contributed to this report.