A federal crackdown on sex trafficking along the Figueroa Corridor in South Los Angeles has resulted in several arrests.
Operation Broken Blade took place at several places, including residences and the Stadium Inn and Spas, a motel near South Vermont Avenue and 104th Street.
Mukeshkumar Rambhai Ahir, 45, the motel’s on-site manager, was one of nine people arrested on Wednesday. He is facing a number of financial charges related to human trafficking. Federal Financial Crimes investigators told ABC7 that Ahir was not a trafficker but rather profited from prostitution.
“The money told a story.” As alleged, individuals associated with this location concealed large amounts of illicit cash, manipulated records, and structured deposits to conceal proceeds from sex trafficking activities,” stated Jose Gonzalez, IRS Criminal Investigations.
As part of the operation, federal authorities arrested ten people.
Many of those arrested are members or allies of the notorious Hoover Gang, which officials claim “largely controlled sex trafficking and prostitution” throughout the corridor. A federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday lists 51 victims, some as young as 14.
These individuals are accused of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking of minors, sex trafficking by force, deception, or coercion, narcotics trafficking conspiracy, and concealed money laundering.
Federal authorities claim that “the Hoovers worked together to recruit new victims via social media or in person, focusing on vulnerable minor girls and young women, particularly those with financial or emotional struggles or who had run away from home or were in the foster care system. ” Victims were recruited with false promises of a lavish lifestyle, intimidation, and actual or threatened violence. Pimps provided their victims with medications like oxycodone and amphetamines to build addictions they could abuse. They specifically target and prey on the most vulnerable females in the foster care system. This is about using a human being to gain money for yourself,” stated First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
Investigators claim some suspected aggressive pimps branded their victims. They’ll beat them. “One of them bit a piece of meat from her cheek in her face, down to the cartilage,” Essayli explained. ” One of them was forced to have an abortion and then was forced to work that same night.”
Officials stated that they want the crackdown to continue.
Last year, the Los Angeles Police Department rescued 54 underage girls from the Figueroa Corridor. According to law enforcement authorities, as of this week, the LAPD has already discovered 70 minor girls working on “The Blade.”
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