Federal, County, and City Law Enforcement Officials Announce Initiative to Combat Sexual Exploitation Crimes

LOS ANGELES - Federal and local law enforcement officials today announced a significant collaborative effort aimed at combatting human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of minors on the Figueroa Corridor in South Los Angeles.

United States Attorney Martin Estrada, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang, and Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson made the announcement.

The criminal cases announced today involve the Figueroa Corridor - a 3.5-mile stretch of Figueroa Street stretching from Gage Avenue down to Imperial Highway, long known as a haven for prostitution.

The initiative - called the Figueroa Corridor Human Trafficking Initiative - features federal and local law enforcement working together to target human traffickers and those who perpetuate illegal sex work, especially involving minors. This initiative also is designed to help victims - the young women and girls who perform the sex work - to find opportunities and to help get them off the streets.

"The Figueroa Corridor area is ground zero for human trafficking and victims are abused and exploited there every day," said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. "With this initiative, we are combining federal and local resources to focus on prosecuting more cases federally, particularly those involving victims who are children, and coordinating with our local partners to hold perpetrators accountable. It is imperative that we take an all-hands approach to stop the human trafficking happening right in our backyard."

"Often, people think of human trafficking as something that happens only in other countries, but it happens in our own City," said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. "This is an issue that community leaders have been working on for decades and today's announcement continues a commitment to protecting children, many of whom have spent time in the child welfare system and hold traffickers and abusers accountable. I thank our law enforcement partners for their continued work on this important issue."

"We are so proud of this unprecedented strategic collaboration, with all of our justice partners leveraging their resources. We have made tremendous progress in our efforts to combat the human trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors that has plagued the Figueroa Corridor for far too long," said Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto. "By disrupting the illegal activity and the businesses that have harbored it and with our U.S. Attorney taking the lead on federal felony prosecutions, we are declaring loud and clear that our children are not for sale, and our community will not be a hub for sex trafficking of minors."

"In the fight against human trafficking, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office has made significant strides thanks to the relentless dedication of our prosecutors and the unwavering support of our multi-agency law enforcement partners. This collaborative effort has been instrumental in bringing traffickers to justice and dismantling these heinous operations," said Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. "Equally important is our dedication to supporting survivors through LADA's Bureau of Victim Services. Our team is trained to provide trauma-informed care, offering survivors the support they need to heal and rebuild their lives. From the moment they come into contact with our office through to their testimony in court, we stand by their side, ensuring they are treated with the utmost respect and care. We recognize that the fight against human trafficking is ongoing. Together, we will continue to advance justice and work toward a future where human trafficking is eradicated from our community."

The criminal cases announced today are:

United States v. O'Neal

Christian Brandon O'Neal Scurlock, 21, of Moreno Valley, has been indicted for allegedly sex trafficking two minors - including a 13-year-old girl - and transporting the minor victims across state lines for the purposes of engaging in prostitution. Last month, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging O'Neal with two counts of sex trafficking of a minor and two counts of transportation of a minor in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution and criminal sexual activity.

According to an affidavit that supported a criminal complaint previously filed in this case, in April 2024, officer with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department stopped O'Neal, who had been seen grabbing a young girl by her neck and pushing her into a Mercedes-Benz. When the officers approached, they found two minor girls inside the car - one victim was 13 years old and the other victim was 16 years old. Officers saw several condoms inside the car in plain view.

A record check of the girls revealed that both had been reported as missing juveniles out of California. Both victims told police that O'Neal had brought them to Las Vegas to provide prostitution services as minor commercial sex workers and that they usually worked on "Fig," short for Figueroa Street in Los Angeles. O'Neal required both minor victims to give him the money they earned from prostitution.

Further investigation revealed that O'Neal advertised himself on Instagram as being a pimp. A review of text messages from the victims' phones corroborated that O'Neal was their pimp and he had them engaged as minor commercial sex workers on the Figueroa Corridor. Also, in March 2024, police camera footage on the Figueroa Corridor showed O'Neal appearing to yell at the 13-year-old victim, take her clothes, and depart the area, leaving her completely naked on the street.

O'Neal was arrested on August 7, was ordered jailed without bond by a federal magistrate judge and has remained in federal custody since then. He pleaded not guilty on August 27 to the criminal charges against him and an October 7 trial date has been scheduled in this case.

Assistant United States Attorneys Kelsey A. Stimson and Danbee C. Kim of the General Crimes Section and Kathy Yu, Chief of Ethics and Post-Conviction Review, are prosecuting this case.

United States v. Castillo, et al.

Nanci Jasmin Castillo, 31, and Jonathan Gonzalez-Reyes, 38, both of Anaheim, are charged in a six-count federal grand jury indictment alleging they befriended a 13-year-old girl, provided her with alcohol, and sexually assaulted her, taking photographs and making videos of the attack.

According to court documents, Castillo befriended a 13-year-old identified in court documents as "Victim 1." In February 2021 at Castillo's Anaheim home, Castillo and Gonzalez-Reyes allegedly sexually assaulted the victim - to whom Castillo had given an alcoholic beverage after the victim previously had taken Xanax anti-anxiety medication - while the victim was going in and out of consciousness. The defendants photographed and made videos of the attack.

A search of Gonzalez-Reyes' phone and Castillo's iCloud account by law enforcement revealed the existence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) depicting the victim and the defendants. Additionally, law enforcement found evidence that Gonzalez-Reyes sent copies of the CSAM to Castillo.

Castillo and Gonzalez-Reyes discussed helping the victim run away from home and possibly trying to find her work on "Fig," a common reference for the Figueroa Corridor, according to court documents.

Both defendants are charged with one count of production of child pornography. Castillo is further charged with one count of the use of a facility of interstate commerce to attempt to induce a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of possession of child pornography. Gonzalez-Reyes also is charged with two counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

Castillo and Gonzalez-Reyes have pleaded not guilty to charges and are scheduled to go to trial in March 2025. They have been in federal custody since June 2024.

Assistant United States Attorneys Claire E. Kelly and Chelsea Norell of the Violent and Organized Crime Section are prosecuting this case.

United States v. Bradford

Donavin Dwayne Bradford, 33, of South Los Angeles, is serving sentence of life in federal prison after being convicted of recruiting and enticing teenage girls for whom he acted as a "pimp" and providing them for commercial sex work.

From the summer of 2021 to February 2022, Bradford caused one of the minor victims - a then-15-year-old girl - to be used for commercial sex acts. Bradford recruited the victim to work for him as a commercial sex worker. As the victim's "pimp," Bradford expected the girl to earn him $1,000 per night.

Bradford advertised the girl for commercial sex work on various websites, and customers who responded to the ads were directed to various hotels and motels where they engaged in commercial sex acts with the victim. Sometimes the minor victim would be required to perform sex acts. Customers paid Bradford for "dates" with the victim or she would be required to give Bradford her earnings.

Bradford assaulted the minor victim when she tried to stop working for him on two separate occasions. Bradford also filmed himself engaging in sex acts on two separate occasions with her. From March 2021 to November 2021, Bradford recruited and enticed two other girls - ages 16 and 17 - to engage in commercial sex activity.

At the conclusion of a five-day trial in April 2023, a jury found Bradford guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking with a minor, three counts of sex trafficking of a minor, three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor for the purpose of producing a sexually explicit visual depiction, one count of possession of child pornography, and one count of sex trafficking through threats of force, fraud, or coercion.

Assistant United States Attorneys Chelsea Norell of the Violent and Organized Crime Section and Kathy Yu, Chief of Ethics and Post-Conviction Review, prosecuted this case.

"Our women, youth and communities deserve better, and this is just the beginning of our focused multi agency effort to stop human trafficking along the Figueroa Corridor," said Los Angeles Police Chief Dominic Choi. "I am grateful to our federal, state and local partners who have come together with the same vision and tenacity on this topic."

"The FBI and its partners will continue to aggressively investigate crimes which affect our quality of life" said Akil Davis, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Los Angeles Field Office. "Collaboration with our law enforcement partners is key to accomplishing anything we set out to do. And when we leverage the resources and strengths of our partners, we can do more to protect the American people than we could ever accomplish on our own."

"HSI's efforts to combat human trafficking in Los Angeles is most effective with our partnerships with our federal, state and local partnerships," said HSI Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Eddy Wang. "The success of our investigations is also highly reliant on our victim-centered approach, where we place equal value on the identification and well-being of victims and on the investigation and prosecution of traffickers."

Indictments and criminal complaints contain allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

Any member of the public who has information related to child sex crimes is encouraged to call the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565 or report tips online at https://tips.fbi.gov.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.