LOS ANGELES (KABC) — With major events such as the World Cup, next year’s Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics coming to Los Angeles, the demand for sex along a notorious hub for human trafficking in the city could grow.
Sex work continues openly – even in daylight – along the Figueroa Corridor, an area nicknamed “the Blade” that’s just south of Crypto.com Arena.
PART 1: A look into the rampant prostitution along LA’s Figueroa Corridor
Gil Garcetti Learning Academy, a Los Angeles Unified School District elementary school, is just one block west of “the Blade.”
The school has placed green tarps over the fence that surrounds school grounds to block children from seeing the rampant prostitution.
“You can see the girls running around half naked,” Elizabeth Garcia, a parent at the school told ABC7 On Your Side Investigates. “They literally stand in front of your car. They don’t care if your kids are inside.”
City leaders say ongoing enforcement efforts have struggled to keep up.
“It is difficult because it is like Whac-A-Mole,” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said. “You can crack down on Figueroa and now we have a problem in another part of the city, which is why it is important to go after the criminal enterprises, the traffic and to go after the johns.”
L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said people selling sex along the corridor are often victims who face violence if they fail to meet quotas.
“We’re going to go after the johns, these sex exploiters. And we’re going to go after them not just with misdemeanor prosecutions, but felony prosecutions. In fact, we’re also going to try and hopefully change the state laws as it pertains to these johns,” Hochman said.
Hochman wants to punish the men coming to the corridor buying sex.
“Because it’s a much more efficient way of dealing with the problem, is can we dry up the demand side?” he told ABC7 On Your Side Investigates.
Hochman even launched a public poll so county residents can vote on how they want him to punish the johns, such as seizing their vehicles or allowing sex work survivors to sue.
Going after the johns may be easier than targeting the pimps and traffickers.
“We have very unique complexities in human trafficking cases that do make our job hard,” said Guillermo Santiso, head deputy district attorney for the Sex Crimes Division.
Santiso said it’s difficult to get sex trafficking victims to cooperate.
“In the commercial sex lifestyle there’s a term known as the game,” Santiso said. “One of the fundamental concepts of the game is you don’t snitch. You don’t snitch against your trafficker.”
Even though they may be tougher to prosecute, Hochman said he also wants to take down as many pimps as possible.
To make those arrests, he says he needs police to get more resources.
Watch the 7 On Your Side Investigates special “Sex in Plain Sight: The Figueroa Corridor” this Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on ABC7.
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