Female pimp busted for pandering another woman at an Irvine apartment

Orange County District Attorney Press Release

For Immediate Releasem Case # 13CF2226: July 18, 2013

FEMALE PIMP TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR PIMPING AND PANDERING 35-YEAR-OLD WOMAN IN UPSCALE IRVINE APARTMENT

NEWPORT BEACH – A female pimp will be arraigned tomorrow for running a high-end brothel and pimping a female victim out of an apartment in Irvine. Mingshu Jin, 41, Irvine, is charged with one felony count each of pimping and pandering. She faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted. The defendant is out of custody on $35,000 bail. Jin is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, Friday, July 19, 2013, at 8:30 a.m. in Department H-2, Harbor Justice Center, Newport Beach.

Circumstances of the Case

Jin is accused of being a pimp who exploits women to engage in commercial sex for financial gain.

Jin is accused of running a brothel out of an apartment in an upscale neighborhood in Irvine and placing an advertisement on a known prostitution website. The Irvine Police Department (IPD) began investigating this case after receiving numerous complaints from residents who described seeing several men enter the apartment alone throughout the day.

The defendant is accused of answering a phone call from an undercover IPD officer and arranging sex for money between the officer and 35-year-old Jane Doe. Jin is accused of introducing Jane Doe to the officer at the apartment and offering sex with the victim for $160. IPD arrested the defendant at the apartment.

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.

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. 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 to be carried out.

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.

IPD investigated this case and Deputy District Attorney Daniel Varon of the HEAT Unit is prosecuting this case.

###

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