Orange County District Attorney Press Release
For Immediate Release, Case # TBA: January 2, 2014
PAROLEE CHARGED WITH HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND PIMPING OF 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL
SANTA ANA – A parolee has been charged with the human trafficking of a 15-year-old girl after bringing her from Los Angeles County to Orange County to engage in prostitution. Kenny Ray Mann, 25, Compton, is charged with one felony count each of human trafficking, pimping a minor, and pandering with a minor under 16 years old by procuring, with sentencing enhancements for a 2008 prior strike conviction and prior prison conviction for robbery, for which he is on parole. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in state prison. The People will be requesting Mann be held on $250,000 bail and be required to prove the money is from a legal and legitimate source before posting bond. The defendant is expected to be arraigned today, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. The time is to be determined.
Mann is accused of being a pimp/human trafficker who exploits women and/or children for financial gain.
In mid-December 2013, Mann is accused of meeting 15-year-old Jane Doe in Los Angeles County and pimping her by having her work as a prostitute.
On Dec. 30, 2013, Mann is accused of driving Jane Doe to Orange County to have her work as a prostitute. He is accused of taking her to a motel in Anaheim in an area known for prostitution.
An Anaheim Police Department (APD) officer observed the victim outside of the motel and determined that she appeared to be both a prostitute and a minor. Jane Doe was observed by the officer getting out of a vehicle, which Mann is accused of having registered in his name.
APD contacted the victim and Mann is accused of being identified as her pimp. In addition to having Jane Doe work as a prostitute on the street, Mann is accused of posting advertisements featuring sex acts with Jane Doe on websites known for prostitution.
The investigation by APD is ongoing.
Deputy District Attorney Brad Schoenleben 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.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Human Exploitation And Trafficking (HEAT) Unit 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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Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney 401 Civic Center Drive West Santa Ana, CA 92701
Contacts:
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718
Farrah Emami Spokesperson Office: 714-347-8405 Cell: 714-323-4486