Orange County District Attorney Press Release
For Immediate Release, Case # 13CM05696: October 2, 2013
SEX PURCHASER CONVICTED FOR SOLICITING SEX FROM WOMAN WHOM HE BELIEVED TO BE PROSTITUTE
SANTA ANA – A sex purchaser was convicted and sentenced today for soliciting sex from a woman whom he believed to be a prostitute. Manuel De Jesus Monzon, 41, Riverside, pleaded guilty today to one misdemeanor count of agreeing to engage in prostitution. Monzon was sentenced to three years of informal probation, 10 days in jail with the possibility of CalTrans in lieu of jail, and must submit to AIDS testing and education.
At approximately 10:20 p.m. on June 26, 2013, Monzon approached an undercover female officer, whom he believed to be a prostitute, near 1100 North Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana. Monzon agreed to purchase sex services from the undercover officer and drove her to a nearby motel where he was arrested by officers from the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD).
The area of 1100 North Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana is known to law enforcement to be a high-prostitution area and is known to frequently be used by individuals who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain, including pimps, panderers, and human traffickers.
This case was prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Human Exploitation And Trafficking (HEAT) Unit, which targets perpetrators who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain, including pimps, panderers, and human traffickers. Commercial sex trafficking is the second most lucrative criminal enterprise behind narcotics trafficking. Often the perpetrators are gang members and/or career criminals.
The HEAT Unit also targets defendants who create a demand for prostitution by soliciting and purchasing sex, which increases the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children. The HEAT Unit uses a tactical plan called PERP: Prosecution of human trafficking perpetrators and sex purchasers; Education for law enforcement to properly handle human trafficking and pandering cases; Resources to raise public awareness and provide assistance to the victims; and Publicity to inform the community about the problem and notify human traffickers and sex purchasers that this crime cannot be perpetrated without suffering severe consequences.
The OCDA announced in April 2013 that he will publicize the names of defendants convicted of sexually exploiting women or children by soliciting sex acts as part of the campaign to reduce the demand for human exploitation and trafficking.
This case was investigated by SAPD and Deputy District Attorney Michael Bardeen of the HEAT Unit prosecuted this case.
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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
