ORANGE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY NEWS RELEASE
July 19, 2017
Case # 16NF0460
*Man also charged with forcible sexual assaults on 15-year-old victim
SANTA ANA, Calif. – A San Jose felon was sentenced to 31 years and six months in state prison yesterday for human trafficking, pimping, and pandering two minors and six additional women using a firearm, intimidation, and drugs.
Defendant: Ariel Cuellar Guizar, 36, San Jose
Pleaded guilty on July 18, 2017, to felony:
- (4) Pimping
- (3) Pandering as an inmate in a house of prostitution
- (2) Human trafficking of a minor
- (2) Human trafficking
- Forcible rape
- Sodomy of a minor over the age of 14
- Pimping a minor
- Pandering a minor under 16 years old
- Furnishing a controlled substance to a minor
- Possession of a firearm by a felon
- Sentencing Enhancement:
- Personal use of a firearm
- Prior Convictions:
- Possession of a firearm by a felon
- Obstructing or resisting a peace officer in Santa Clara County in 2009
Sentence: 31 years and six months in state prison. Lifetime sex offender registration.
Circumstances of the Case
Guizar is a human trafficker/pimp. In the pimp/prostitution subculture, pimps exploit women and/or children for financial gain and often assign ranks to the women they exploit. The victims are often required to turn over all payment they receive for sex acts from sex purchasers to their pimp. Failure to follow these rules can result in physical and/ or emotional abuse.
- In February 2016, Guizar met 15-year-old Jane Doe 1 in Los Angeles County and trafficked her to areas known for prostitution and human trafficking in Orange County.
- Throughout the month, the defendant pimped four additional women, trafficked two women, and trafficked a 17-year-old girl.
Guizar possessed a firearm despite having prior felony convictions, rented motel rooms for the victims to use to engage in commercial sex, and kept the money they received from performing commercial sex acts. - Between Feb. 8, 2016, and Feb. 13, 2016, Guizar sexually assaulted Jane Doe 1, including forcibly raping and sodomizing the victim.
- The defendant also furnished methamphetamine to Jane Doe 1.
- On Feb. 10, 2016, family members of Jane Doe 1 contacted their local police department to report their concerns about the victim.
- Members of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force (OCHTTF) began investigating this case, and with the assistance of the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Innocence Lost Task Force, and Anaheim Police Department (APD), located Jane Doe 1 in the city of Bellflower.
- Further investigation resulted in information about the additional victims in this case.
- On Feb. 11, 2016, members of the OCHTTF located and subsequently arrested the defendant at a hotel in Anaheim.
Members of the OCHTTF and the Orange County District Attorney’s (OCDA) Office work proactively to protect women and minors from falling victim to commercial sexual exploitation. This case was investigated by OCHTTF, a partnership between APD, California Highway Patrol, FBI, Huntington Beach Police Department, Irvine Police Department OCDA, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Ana Police Department, and community and non-profit partners.
Deputy District Attorney Bryan Clavecilla of the HEAT Unit prosecuted this case.
Proposition 35 and HEAT
To read more about California’s anti-human trafficking Proposition 35 and the OCDA’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) Unit, please visit www.orangecountyda.org and select Human Trafficking Information from the Media Center drop down menu.
TONY RACKAUCKAS, District Attorney
Susan Kang Schroeder, Chief of Staff
Office: 714-347-8408
Cell: 714-292-2718
Michelle Van Der Linden,Spokesperson
Office: 714-347-8405
Cell: 714-323-4486
