ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
July 5, 2017
Case # 17CF1662
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Minnesota man was arraigned today for human trafficking and attempted pimping of two fictitious minors he met through social media.
Defendant: Nigel Ezekiel Samuels, 25, Saint Paul, Minnesota
Charged today with: Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
June 23, 2017
Case # 14HF0182
WOMAN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON FOR PIMPING WOMEN OUT OF IRVINE BROTHELS
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A woman was sentenced yesterday to three years in state prison for pimping women out of luxury Irvine apartments operating as brothels.
Defendant: Jian Zhen Zhu, 42, Santa Ana
Pleaded guilty to the court on Nov. 15, 2016, to felony counts: Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
March 29, 2017
Case # 17CF0535, 16NF2060
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A felon is facing additional charges for human trafficking, pimping, pandering, and assault. Deunta Patterson, 26, Bakersfield, was arraigned yesterday, March 28, 2017, with 22 felony counts of pandering by promise, threat, or violence to become a prostitute, four felony counts each of pimping and pandering a minor over 16 years old by procuring, two felony counts each of human trafficking, human trafficking of a minor, and attempted pimping, and one felony count each of pimping a minor, pandering, and assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. Patterson also faces sentencing enhancements for human trafficking of a minor by force and/or fear and a prior strike conviction for residential burglary in 2013 in Kern County. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison. Patterson is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on April 26, 2017, at 8:30 a.m. in Department C-57, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
March 17, 2017
Case # 15CF1483
*Longest sentence in HEAT Unit history
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A parolee who trafficked a woman while on GPS monitoring was sentenced yesterday to 233 years to life in prison for kidnapping, raping, and pimping a victim on the Fourth of July. Beau James Dearborne, 38, Santa Ana, was found guilty by a jury on Nov. 17, 2016, of two felony counts each of forcible rape in concert, oral copulation in concert with force and fear, pimping, and pandering, and one felony count each of human trafficking, kidnapping to commit rape, and second degree robbery. The defendant admitted a prior serious and violent felony strike conviction for rape of an unconscious person in 2010 in Orange County, and sentencing enhancements for prior prison convictions in 2003 and 2006 in Clark County, Nevada. Dearborne was sentenced on March 16, 2017, to 228 years determinate and 5 years to life indeterminate. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
March 16, 2017
Case # 16CF2659
SAN DIEGO MAN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON FOR PIMPING AND PANDERING WOMAN IN SANTA ANA
*The crime was discovered during a routine traffic stop
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A San Diego man was sentenced to three years in state prison yesterday for pimping and pandering a woman, which was discovered during a routine traffic stop in Santa Ana. Rodney Jerome Walker, 50, San Diego, pleaded guilty on March 15, 2017, to a court offer of one felony count each of pimping and pandering. Continue reading
Ronald Spurlock
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
March 9, 2017
Case # 14CF2383
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MAN CONVICTED OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING, PIMPING, AND PANDERING SEVERAL WOMEN
FULLERTON, Calif. – A San Bernadino man was convicted yesterday of human trafficking, pimping, and pandering of several women. Ronald Preston Spurlock, 38, Grand Terrace, was found guilty by a jury on March 8, 2017, of two felony counts of human trafficking, four felony counts of pimping, eight felony counts of pandering, and one felony count of conspiring to dissuade a witness. Spurlock also pleaded guilty on Feb. 27, 2017, to one felony count of possession of a firearm by a felon. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of 34 years in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration at his sentencing on June 16, 2017, at 8:30 a.m. in Department N-11, North Justice Center, Fullerton. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
March 1, 2017
Case # 16NF1713
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Washington felon was convicted yesterday of trafficking a woman and pimping her by using a firearm to force her to solicit commercial sex. Timogen Anthony Simpson, 27, Kent, Washington, was found guilty by a jury of two felony counts each of pimping and pandering; one felony count each of human trafficking, criminal threats, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, possession of a firearm by felon, convicted felon having a concealed firearm in a vehicle, and felon carrying a loaded firearm in public, one misdemeanor count of false imprisonment, and a sentencing enhancement for being armed with a firearm while committing criminal threats. The defendant faces a maximum sentence of over 40 years in state prison. The court will hear a bifurcated trial on Simpson’s prior felony strike convictions for second degree robbery in 2009 in King County, Washington, and a prior prison conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon in 2012 from the United States District Court, Western Division, in Washingtonat his sentencing on June 9, 2017, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-30, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Continue reading
Santa Ana Police Department
Advisory: Prostitution Sting Snares Suspected Pimp with Prior Pimping Conviction
During the evening hours of Wednesday, January 18th, Police Detectives assigned to the Vice and Narcotics Unit conducted an operation in support of the City Council’s commitment to impact the level of prostitution-related activity along the Harbor corridor; as a result, the Detectives made multiple arrests of suspects for crimes including pandering and loitering with the intent to commit prostitution. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
December 6, 2016
Case # 16CF0030
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Northern California man was sentenced to 12 years in prison for conspiring to pimp a woman and illegally possessing a stun gun in his vehicle. Binh Cong Thai, 29, San Jose, pleaded guilty on March 3, 2016, to one felony count of conspiracy to commit pimping and one misdemeanor of unlawful possession of a stun gun with a prior conviction, and admitted to a prior strike conviction for a 2013 armed robbery in Santa Clara County. He was sentenced to five years of formal probation and 12 years in state prison was suspended. Due to a probation violation, Thai will serve 12 years in state prison.
Circumstances of the Case Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
December 1, 2016
Case # 16CF3024, 16WF0849, 16CF2991
*Co-defendant charged with dissuading witnesses for contacting the victims on behalf of the incarcerated man
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Corona man was arraigned yesterday for pimping and pandering two women and a 17-year-old boy in Costa Mesa, then assaulting and furnishing meth to the minor. Kenneth Wayne Phillips, 28, was charged on Nov. 29, 2016, with one felony count of human trafficking of a minor, one felony count of pimping a minor, one felony count of pandering a minor over 16 by promise, threat, or violence, one felony count of furnishing methamphetamine to a minor, three felony counts of dissuading a witness, and three felony counts of violation of a protective order, with a sentencing enhancement for crime-bail-crime. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 16 years in state prison and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration. Phillips is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on Dec. 7, 2016, at 9:00 a.m. in Department C-55, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
November 17, 2016
Case # 15NF3354
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A Los Angeles man was convicted and sentenced to three years in state prison today for attempting to pimp and pander an undercover police officer, whom he believed to be a minor, on a social media website. Michael Joseph Mata, 34, pleaded guilty to one felony count of attempted pimping of a minor and one felony count of pandering by procuring. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE
Case # 16NF0935
Date: June 29, 2016
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A parolee striker was sentenced today to six years in state prison for false impersonation and the pandering of a fictitious minor girl on social media. Roger Lee Perryman, 30, Gardena, pleaded guilty today, June 29, 2016, to one felony count of pandering by receiving or giving money, one felony count of false personation, and one misdemeanor count of false representation to a peace officer with sentencing enhancements for a prior strike conviction for attempted robbery in 2010 and prior convictions which resulted in prison sentences for attempted robbery in 2010 and transportation of a controlled substance for sale in 2014 in Los Angeles County. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE
Case # 15CF0630
Date: June 20, 2016
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A parolee sex offender on a GPS monitoring device was sentenced Friday, June 17, 2016, to eight years in state prison for the pandering and attempted pimping of an 18-year-old woman. Eddie Bridges III, 38, Compton, was found guilty by a jury on July 29, 2015, of one felony count of attempted pimping and one felony count of pandering by procuring. The defendant’s sentencing enhancements for prior prison convictions in Los Angeles County in 2007 for the pimping and pandering of a minor, pimping and pandering of an adult, and a prior prison conviction in 2011 for attempted pandering, and serving separate prison terms but not remaining free for five years, were also found to be true. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE
Case # 16NF1713
Date: June 13, 2016
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A felon was arraigned today for trafficking a woman from the state of Washington and pimping her by using a firearm to force her to solicit commercial sex. Timogen Anthony Simpson, 27, Kent, Washington, is charged with one felony count each of human trafficking, pimping, pandering, criminal threats, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, possession of a firearm by felon, convicted felon having a concealed firearm in a vehicle, one misdemeanor count of false imprisonment, one misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended or revoked license, and sentencing enhancements for being armed with a firearm while committing criminal threats, and a prior strike conviction for second degree robbery in 2009 and a prior prison conviction for second degree identity theft in 2011, both in King County in the state of Washington. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of over 40 years in state prison. He is being held on $1 million bail and must prove the money is from a legal and legitimate source before posting bond. Simpson was arraigned today and is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing June 21, 2016, at 8:30 a.m. in Department N-3, North Justice Center, Fullerton. Continue reading
ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY PRESS RELEASE
Case # 15NF1059/15NF2346
Date: June 9, 2016
*Defendant received nearly $50,000 from trafficking one of the victims
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man was sentenced today to 14 years in state prison for the human trafficking, pimping, and pandering of a woman, and attempting to pimp another woman by threatening both victims. The defendant received nearly $50,000 from the trafficking of one of the victims. Johnny Lee Guyton Jr., 46, Henderson, Nevada, was found guilty by a jury on May 17, 2016, of one felony count of human trafficking, one felony count of pimping, two felony counts of pandering, and one felony count of attempted pimping. Guyton also received mandatory lifetime sex offender registration as a term of his sentence.
On April 21, 2015, Guyton was charged in case 15NF1059 with two felony counts of human trafficking, two felony counts of pimping, two felony counts of pandering. This case was subsequently consolidated with case 15NF2346. Continue reading