CA: 3 Indicted on Child Prostitution Charges

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA -- Three people are accused of taking two underage girls from Phoenix to San Diego for prostitution.

One of the accused men was in federal court Tuesday defendants in downtown San Diego.

Uawndre Larue Fields (at left), dressed in a white jumpsuit, went before a magistrate judge during the afternoon.

According to the federal indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, Fields is facing two counts of child sex trafficking and two counts of interstate transportation of a minor for prostitution.

The FBI said that agents, acting on a warrant, arrested Fields on Wednesday night.The indictment states that Fields and two other defendants, Depaul Brooks and Julia Margarite Fonteneaux, recruited a pair of underage girls and took them across state lines to engage in prostitution in April of 2006...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT NBCSanDiego.com

California: Man Pleads Guilty to Forcing Teens Into Prostitution

OCEANSIDE, CA - An Oceanside man pleaded guilty to two federal charges of sex trafficking children by force, admitting that he forced two teen-age girls to work as prostitutes.

Luther Gene Ray Jr., 23, pleaded guilty to the two felony counts [in late March] before United States District Judge Edward Rafeedie in Los Angeles. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Ray is expected to receive a sentence of 100 months in federal prison.

In a plea agreement and in court today, Ray admitted that he was a pimp to two minor girls in May 2004, and that he had them work for him as prostitutes in Los Angeles and Orange counties, as well as in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ray required the girls to engage in commercial sex acts and to give him all of the money they earned. Ray used coercive methods to ensure that the girls would perform sex acts in exchange for money. Ray kept a close watch over the girls while they worked as prostitutes and made them believe that if they disobeyed him or broke one of his rules, he would physically harm them.

Ray is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18, 2007.

This is the second prosecution of child sex trafficking brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the past 6 months.

READ THE PRESS RELEASE AT LosAngeles.FBI.gov

San Francisco: Sex Slave Figure Sentenced

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - A San Bruno man who admitted to hiring undocumented immigrant women to work as prostitutes in his South of Market massage parlor was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to a year in prison for money laundering.

Anthony Gar Lau, 46, operated Golden Flower Steam and Sauna Spa, one of 11 Asian massage parlors raided in July 2005 by federal agents who were investigating a Korean sex-trafficking ring.

Lau is among 29 people indicted by a federal grand jury in 2005 in connection with the raid. Investigators said the sex-trafficking ring allegedly brought young women from Korea and forced them to work as sex slaves in Asian massage parlors and unmarked apartments in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

During the "Operation Gilded Cage" raid, 104 Korean women were removed from 11 San Francisco massage parlors.

None of the 29 has gone to trial. Lau is the first among them to receive prison time.

Lau was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer to forfeit $1 million in income from Golden Flower Steam and Sauna Spa and to spend two years on supervised release after his prison term...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT SFGate.com

US: FBI Investigates Underage Prostitution on Craigslist

Craigslist depends upon its users to
"flag" inappropriate ads for removal

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA -- An eight-month investigation of underage prostitution advertised on Craigslist, a popular Internet classified site, led FBI agents to raid the home and photo studio of a south Sacramento man, court documents say.

In an affidavit unsealed this week, an FBI agent alleges that Paul Yoshi Moore, 46, took racy photographs of three Sacramento-based girls, one 14 and two 17, and posted them in the Web site's "erotic services" section.

No charges have been filed in the case. FBI officials declined comment, saying the case is under investigation.

The Sacramento case is the latest to focus legal scrutiny on Craigslist and prostitution ads on the highly popular Internet site. Craigslist has been linked in news accounts to prostitution stings from New York City suburbs to Chicago to Seattle. The company did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

In the Sacramento case, one girl, 17, told investigators that a pimp who recruited her from a local high school introduced her to Moore for a nearly-nude photo shoot.

Another girl, 14, said she began working as a prostitute at 12 or 13 and paid Moore a monthly fee to maintain her Craigslist advertisement with nude photos, the search warrant affidavit states.

Moore, polite yet flustered when reached at his south Sacramento house, said he was aware officials were investigating him. He said he did not want to talk, but went on to say he fears his reputation will be ruined.

"I'm going to be crucified," he said...

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT ContraCostaTimes.com

California: Stockton Man Gets 40 Years for Child Prostitution

STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA -- A Stockton man convicted of trafficking children for sex was sentenced Thursday to 40 years in prison.

Will Moss Jr., 31, will have to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence, will spend 10 years on supervised release after his prison term and must register for life as a sex offender, according to the Eastern District U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento.

During trial, witnesses testified that up to seven women, two of them under the age of 18, worked for Moss as prostitutes. They testified that they traveled between Stockton and Las Vegas and that Moss beat them and brandished firearms to keep them quiet, according to a press release isued by U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott's office.

A jury convicted Moss on June 21 of 12 criminal counts including sex trafficking of children and firearms violations. District Judge Edward J. Garcia said he handed down the stiff sentence because of Moss' brutality, according to prosecutors Carolyn Delaney, Michael Beckwith and Laura Ferris.

The case was initially investigated by the Stockton Police Department and also involved the FBI.

READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT LodiNews.com