Xavier Dashea Washington, a 36-year-old man, was convicted on Wednesday of trafficking a 17-year-old runaway and pandering two other women in Orange County.
Washington was found guilty of felony charges including human trafficking of a minor, one count of pandering a minor older than 16, two counts of pandering, a count of attempting to prevent a victim from prosecuting, and a misdemeanor count of contempt of court after he disobeyed a court order.
Washington was however acquitted by the jury of felony counts of attempted pandering and possession of a firearm by a felon. Additionally, charges of pimping a minor older than 17, human trafficking, pimping and pandering were dismissed during the trail, along with sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a gun.
Washington is set to be sentenced on Feb. 6.
A police detective contacted an Orange County investigator about a 17-year-old runaway, back in October, 2021, according to the opening statement of OCDA Deputy District Attorney Taylor Krone at the trial.
The intrepid investigator was able to locate where the victim might be through her Snapchat profile, according to Krone.
Krone alleged that Washington was “tirelessly using Instagram” and other social media “to recruit girls who were vulnerable to work for him as prostitutes.”
Krone found “hundreds and hundreds” of messages between Washington and the four victims. She said he could be very charming when he wanted to be.
The other victims were women between 19 and 20 years old when they worked as prostitutes for the Washington, according to Krone.
The underage victim was tracked down by police investigators to an apartment complex at 293 State College Blvd. , in Orange.
The investigators knocked on doors as they tried to find the teen victim and then came back to the complex the next day when they found her due to surveillance that they had set up, according to Krone.
The 20-year-old refused to talk to the police investigators, but they were able to get statements from two of the other alleged victims.
The police used a battering ram to get access to the hotel room where the young victim was staying, on on Oct. 21, 2021. However, by the time police investigators were able to contact her she had smashed her phone “to smithereens,” according to Krone.
During the search the investigators reported finding a Glock gun that the defendant was accused of possessing.
Krone said that Washington spent months recruiting the underage victim. Washington would tell her tha “I’m a pimp, but I’m a gentleman.”
After Washington was in jail the investigators recorded phone calls that he made telling the teenager to delete the Zoom application off her device so she could skip a court hearing. She proceeded to do so, according to Krone.
Washington had a previous conviction of attempted pimping, according to court records.
The victim told police that Washington would threaten to hit her and he would also use the gun to control the others, according to Krone.
Disgustingly, Washington sent the victim a “trophy emoji” after she had engaged in acts of prostitution, and told her that he was “proud” of her.
The teen told police she initially had lied to Washington about her age, but she later told him she was underage, according to Krone. But the jurors heard from Krone that, “Being mistaken about her age is not a defense in this case.”
Jazmine Torres, of the Orange County Public Defender’s Office, Washington’s defense attorney, claimed that the case “was not as simple as the prosecution wants it to be seen.” She also said that “In reality, we’re not dealing with your typical 19-and 20-year-olds.”
Torres admitted that, “No one here is going to say Xavier is an angel,” but she also said that, “What you’re not going to hear is he physically coerced anyone.”
She then doubled down on that thought saying that Washington did not force the women to do anything they didn’t want to do.
Torres then said that the prostitution ring was a “subculture.”
