Case # 16WF1496
July 15, 2016
FELON FROM STOCKTON CHARGED WITH PIMPING AND PANDERING WOMAN AND ILLEGALLY POSSESSING FIREARM
WESTMINSTER, Calif. – A felon from Stockton was charged yesterday with pimping and pandering a woman and illegally possessing a firearm. Raymello Edward Brown, 21, is charged with one felony count of pimping, one felony count of pandering, one felony count of possession of a firearm by a felon, one felony count of possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, and a sentencing enhancement for being armed with a firearm. Brown also faces sentencing enhancements for a prior strike conviction for first degree burglary in 2012 in San Joaquin County and a prior prison conviction for possession of a controlled substance for sale in 2014 in San Joaquin County and not remaining free for a period of five years or more. If convicted, Brown faces a maximum sentence of 14 years and four months in state prison. Brown was arraigned yesterday, July 14, 2016, and is scheduled to for a pre-trial hearing on Friday, July 22, 2016, at 8:30 a.m. in Department W-2, West Justice Center, Westminster.
Circumstances of the Case
Brown is accused of being a pimp who exploits women for financial gain. The victims are often required to turn over all payment they receive for sex acts from sex purchasers to their pimp.
Prior to July 5, 2016, the defendant is accused of traveling with Jane Doe from Stockton to Costa Mesa with the intent to have her to engage in commercial sex for his benefit, in areas known for prostitution and human trafficking in Orange County. The defendant is accused of posting sexually explicit advertisements of Jane Doe on websites known for prostitution. Brown is accused of forcing Jane Doe to perform commercial sex acts on sex purchasers and keeping all of the money that Jane Doe received for himself.
On July 5, 2016, undercover Costa Mesa Police Department (CMPD) officers arranged to meet with Jane Doe at a hotel on Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa. During CMPD’s investigation, the defendant is accused of occupying a neighboring hotel room and attempting to call the victim. When CMPD officers contacted Brown, he is accused of having over $3,000 in cash, a loaded firearm, and ammunition in his possession. Brown was arrested at the hotel by CMPD.
Members of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force (OCHTTF) and the Orange County District Attorney’s (OCDA) Office work proactively to protect women and minors from falling victim to commercial sexual exploitation. This case was investigated by CMPD and OCHTTF, a partnership between the Anaheim Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Huntington Beach Police Department, Irvine Police Department, OCDA, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Ana Police Department, and community and non-profit partners.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel Varon of the HEAT Unit is prosecuting this case.
Proposition 35 and HEAT
In November 2012, California’s anti-human trafficking Proposition 35 (Prop 35) was enacted in California with 81 percent of the vote, and over 82 percent of the vote in Orange County, to increase the penalty for human trafficking, particularly in cases involving the trafficking of a minor by force.
A component of the OCHTTF is the OCDA’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. The HEAT Unit uses a tactical plan called PERP: Prosecution, 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.
Under the law, human trafficking is described as depriving or violating the personal liberty of another person with the intent to effect a violation of pimping or pandering. Pimping is described as knowingly deriving financial support in whole or in part from the proceeds of prostitution. Pandering is the act of persuading or procuring an individual to become a prostitute, or procuring and/or arranging for a person work in a house of prostitution.
Penal Code Section 236.1 defines:
(1) “Coercion” includes any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process; debt bondage; or providing and facilitating the possession of any controlled substance to a person with the intent to impair the person’s judgment.
(2) “Commercial sex act” means sexual conduct on account of which anything of value is given or received by any person.
(3) “Deprivation or violation of the personal liberty of another” includes substantial and sustained restriction of another’s liberty accomplished through force, fear, fraud, deceit, coercion, violence, duress, menace, or threat of unlawful injury to the victim or to another person, under circumstances where the person receiving or apprehending the threat reasonably believes that it is likely that the person making the threat would carry it out.
(4) “Duress” includes a direct or implied threat of force, violence, danger, hardship, or retribution sufficient to cause a reasonable person to acquiesce in or perform an act which he or she would otherwise not have submitted to or performed; a direct or implied threat to destroy, conceal, remove, confiscate, or possess any actual or purported passport or immigration document of the victim; or knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating, or possessing any actual or purported passport or immigration document of the victim.
(5) “Forced labor or services” means labor or services that are performed or provided by a person and are obtained or maintained through force, fraud, duress, or coercion, or equivalent conduct that would reasonably overbear the will of the person.
(6) “Great bodily injury” means a significant or substantial physical injury.
(7) “Minor” means a person less than 18 years of age.
(8) “Serious harm” includes any harm, whether physical or nonphysical, including psychological, financial, or reputational harm, that is sufficiently serious, under all the surrounding circumstances, to compel a reasonable person of the same background and in the same circumstances to perform or to continue performing labor, services, or commercial sexual acts in order to avoid incurring that harm.
(i) The total circumstances, including the age of the victim, the relationship between the victim and the trafficker or agents of the trafficker, and any handicap or disability of the victim, shall be factors to consider in determining the presence of “deprivation or violation of the personal liberty of another,” “duress,” and “coercion” as described in this section.
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