| For Immediate Release July 15, 2013 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami
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EIGHT MEN CONVICTED AND SENTENCED FOR SOLICITING SEX FROM UNDERCOVER OFFICER IN SANTA ANA STING OPERATION
*Defendants were prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s HEAT Unit
SANTA ANA – Eight men arrested in an undercover sting operation pleaded guilty and were sentenced today for soliciting sex or sex acts from an undercover police officer, whom they believed to be a prostitute. The convicted defendants include: Michael Davis, 36; Heladio Herrera, 21; Silvestre Jacob, 40; Paulino Martinez, 40; Tony Nguyen, 45; Luis Ortiz, 27; Francisco Rios, 33; and Herbert Yoneoka, 68. All of the defendants pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of soliciting another to engage in prostitution. Herrera, Jacob, and Martinez also pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of driving without a license.
Davis, Herrera, Jacob, Martinez, Nguyen, and Ortiz were each sentenced to three years of informal probation, 10 days in jail with the possibility of CalTrans in lieu of jail, and must submit to AIDS testing and education. Rios was sentenced to three years of informal probation, 15 days in jail with the possibility of CalTrans in lieu of jail, and must submit to AIDS testing and education. Yoneoka was sentenced to three years of informal probation, 10 days in jail with the possibility of community service in lieu of jail, and must submit to AIDS testing and education.
On the night of May 15, 2013, and in the early morning of May 16, 2013, the eight defendants were arrested in an undercover sting operation by officers from the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) for soliciting sex or sex acts from an undercover female officer, whom they believed to be a prostitute. The defendants approached the undercover officer on Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana and solicited sex in exchange for money.
The area of Harbor Boulevard is known to law enforcement to be a high-prostitution area frequently used by individuals who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain, including pimps, panderers, and human traffickers.
This case was prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Human Exploitation And Trafficking (HEAT) Unit, which targets perpetrators who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain, including pimps, panderers, and human traffickers. Commercial sex trafficking is the second most lucrative criminal enterprise behind narcotics trafficking. Often the perpetrators are gang members and/or career criminals.
The HEAT Unit also targets defendants who create a demand for prostitution by soliciting and/or purchasing sex and engaging in the commercial sex trade, which increases the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children. The HEAT Unit uses a tactical plan called PERP: Prosecution of human trafficking perpetrators and sex purchasers; to bring justice for victims of human trafficking and hold perpetrators responsible using Prop 35; Education, to provide law enforcement training to properly handle human trafficking and pandering cases; Resources from public-private partnerships to raise public awareness about human trafficking and provide assistance to the victims; and Publicity, to inform the public and send a message to human traffickers that this crime cannot be perpetrated without suffering severe consequences.