A Long Beach man with a prior kidnapping conviction is facing multiple felony charges after authorities say he was caught selling a teenage girl for sex at an Anaheim motel.

Michael Terrell Armstrong, 33, was arrested Jan. 8 by the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force after investigators received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a missing 17-year-old girl believed to be a victim of sex trafficking.

Task force members immediately launched an investigation and were able to locate the teen and Armstrong just hours later at a motel in Anaheim. Armstrong was taken into custody, and the girl was provided victim services and support, authorities said.

Prosecutors with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit charged Armstrong with one felony count of human trafficking of a minor, one felony count of pimping a minor over the age of 16, and one felony count of pandering with a minor over 16.

If convicted on all counts, Armstrong faces up to 29 years in state prison. A judge ordered him held in custody on $250,000 bail.

“The faces of human trafficking are unbelievably the faces of children, the most vulnerable victims who are being exploited by some of the most diabolical predators that exist,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. “Our children are not for sale here in Orange County — or anywhere.”

The arrest was made by the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, a multi-agency group co-chaired by the Anaheim Police Department and Waymakers, a nonprofit that provides services to crime victims. The task force includes local police departments, the California Highway Patrol, the FBI, Homeland Security, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and several other agencies.

Anyone who is being trafficked or knows someone who may be a victim is urged to contact the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 888-373-7888 or contact local law enforcement.

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