Case # 16NF1774
Date: June 20, 2016
MAN AND GIRLFRIEND CHARGED WITH FORCIBLE RAPE, HUMAN TRAFFICKING, PIMPING, AND PANDERING OF 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL AND PIMPING AND PANDERING OF WOMAN
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A man and his girlfriend were charged Friday, June 17, 2016, with the forcible rape, human trafficking, pimping, and pandering of a 15-year-old girl and the pimping and pandering of a woman. Raymond Lee Gibson, 27, Colton, and Crystal Nicole Coleman, 25, Las Vegas, Nevada, are each charged with one felony count of forcible oral copulation, one felony count of forcible rape, one felony count of lewd acts upon a child, one felony count of human trafficking of a minor, one felony count of pandering with a minor under 16 years old by procuring, one felony count of pimping a minor, one felony count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, one felony count of pandering by procuring, and one felony count of pimping. The defendants each face a sentencing enhancement allegation for human trafficking of a minor by force or fear. Gibson also faces a sentencing enhancement allegation for a 2008 prior strike conviction for second degree robbery in Riverside County. If convicted, both defendants face a maximum sentence of life in state prison. The defendants are scheduled for a continued arraignment on July 8, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
Circumstances of the Case
Gibsonis accused of being a human trafficker/pimp and Coleman, Gibson’s girlfriend, is accused of working for him as a prostitute and recruiting other women to prostitute for Gibson. In the pimp/prostitution subculture, pimps who exploit women and/or children for financial gain often assign ranks to the women they exploit. The victims are often required to turn over all payment they receive for sex acts from sex purchasers to their pimp. Failure to follow these rules can result in physical and/ or emotional abuse. Coleman is accused of being the highest-ranking of Gibson’s prostitutes.
Prior to June 2016, Gibson and Coleman are accused of meeting 15-year-old Jane Doe 1 and began trafficking the victim in areas known for prostitution and human trafficking in Orange and San Bernardino counties. The defendants are accused of forcing Jane Doe 1 to engage in commercial sex acts with sex purchasers and keeping the money that the victim received.
During that same time, the defendants are accused of convincing Jane Doe 2 to engage in commercial sex acts for their benefit in Orange County.
On May 30, 2016, Jane Doe 1 attempted to flee from an Orange County motel room. Gibson is accused of finding Jane Doe 1, forcibly raping the victim, and forcing her to orally copulate him. Gibson is accused of choking Jane Doe 1 during the course of the sexual assault until the victim could no longer breathe. Coleman is accused of instructing other acquaintances engaging in prostitution to assault Jane Doe 1.
On June 11, 2016, Jane Doe 1 was contacted by law enforcement in San Bernardino County and reported the crime.
On June 15, 2016, the defendants are accused of pimping Jane Doe 2 in an Orange County motel room. Members of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force (OCHTTF) located and arrested the defendants that day.
Members of the 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 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 Juliet Oliver 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.