Antonio Romello Mann, a 28-year-old man, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a charge of pimping a 17-year-old girl in Anaheim.
Mann was charged way back in September of 2020 with human trafficking of an underage victim, pimping a minor older than 16, pandering with a minor older than 17 as well as two counts each of pimping and pandering, all felonies.
An Anaheim police investigator testified that he posed as a woman on an Instagram account and got a message in July of 2020 from a 17-year-old who was offering to work as a prostitute. That person later send another message saying she was working as a prostitute in Los Angeles. This prompted the police investigator to offer to pay her for a “threesome.” The investigator’s message was meant to help in making contact with the prostitution victim in order to help her.
Mann drove the teen in question to a parking lot in Anaheim, but they left when they saw unmarked police cars, according to the police investigator said.
On Sept. 1, 2020, the prostitution victim messaged the police investigator saying she was admitted to Children’s Hospital Orange County.
When investigators went to visit her she said Mann, who also went by Tone Montana, was her pimp and that he had two other victims working for him as prostitutes, including an 18-year-old woman who was 17 when she started as a sex worker. The other woman was 25-years-old.
Mann was released after he posted bail in September 2020. However he failed to appear in court in January of last year. He later had to be transferred from San Quentin Prison to face charges in Orange County.
Mann has to return to court for a pretrial hearing Feb. 21 in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
