REMARKS BY DISTRICT ATTORNEY TONY RACKAUCKAS – PIMPING CONSPIRACY

REMARKS BY DISTRICT ATTORNEY TONY RACKAUCKAS

PIMPING CONSPIRACY

March 22, 2007

Good morning. Thank you for coming.  Standing here with me today are Captain Joe Reiss of the Anaheim Police Department and William J. Hayes, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Investigation for The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Orange County. This large-scale effort would not have been possible without the cooperation of our local and federal law enforcement agencies, and I would like to thank them for their hard work. You’ll have an opportunity to hear from both of them in just a few minutes.

We also have with us today Deputy District Attorney Scott Steiner, who will be prosecuting this case, Jim Amormino, Public Information Officer, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Sergeant Dave Hill from the Orange Police Department, Craig Kilday, Chief Deputy for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, and Ingrid Wyatt, Public Information Officer for the Riverside District Attorney. Each of these agencies, along with the Tustin Police Department, provided officers and resources for taking down the brothels in their neighborhoods, and we’re grateful for their commitment to continuing to protect our communities.  

• Four businesses and four houses were searched on Friday, March 16^th
• This was a three year, multi-agency joint investigation
• Major pimping conspiracy and brothel ring was taken down
• Six people were arrested
• Numerous bank accounts and safety deposit boxes were seized
• Ten brothels, all owned and operated by the same group of people, have been identified and shut down,

We believe this is the largest pimping conspiracy to ever be taken down in Orange County.  A conspiracy is when two people or more agree to commit a crime and then take steps to carry it out.  Even if each conspirator does not physically participate in each step of the crime, all conspirators are equally responsible. 

In this case, five defendants have been charged for their various levels of involvement in this conspiracy, and a sixth has been charged for running a brothel. They are all pictured here. 

Jian Shi is the ring leader.  He’s been charged with pimping and conspiracy to pimp. He owned, operated, or in some way ran all ten of the brothels at one time or another. He was the guy who called the shots, to whom the others reported, and who instructed the others in the conspiracy; how to run the criminal operation under the radar.     

In a two month period, Shi’s credit card was used to buy 7, 500 square feet of Kirkland Plastic Food Wrap.  In just over two weeks, his card was used to buy 12 bottles of 24.5 ounce Vaseline lotion.  

When one of the women, Mikey, was arrested in September 2006 for prostitution, Shi coached her on how to manipulate the judge.  He told her to act pitiful when she went to court and make the judge feel sorry for her. He told her to wear shabby clothes, and say she had been persecuted in China. He told her to tell the judge that she was only trying to make money. 

Defendant Hong Jun Bai was Shi’s right-hand guy.  He’s been charged with pimping and conspiracy to pimp. He moved money, arranged pick-ups and drop offs, and reported to Shi on the number of customers the brothels and prostitutes had on any given day.