Desi Enrique Munoz, 19, or Moreno Valley, has been convicted of trafficking and pimping a 16-year-old girl in Anaheim.
Munoz pleaded guilty on July 30 to felony counts of human trafficking and pimping. He could be sentenced to a maximum of eight years in state prison.
According to the Orange County District Attorney’s office (OCDA), Munoz is a human trafficker who exploits women and/or children for financial gain. Pimps often establish rigid rules that their victims are expected follow including requiring victims to speak only when spoken to, address the pimp as “Sir” or “Daddy,” assigning seats in the car based on “rank,” and setting daily quotas that they victims are expected to fulfill. 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 deprivation of food and/or physical and/or emotional abuse.
The circumstances of the case are as follows:
Between Jan. 15, 2018 and Jan. 29, 2018, Munoz trafficked and pimped the 16-year-old by arranging for the victim to engage in commercial sex for his financial gain.
On Jan. 29, the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force (OCHTTF) located a sexually explicit advertisement depicting the female, who appeared to be a minor, on a website known for prostitution and human trafficking. Investigators responded to the advertisement and set up a “date” with the victim at a Motel 6 in Anaheim.
OCHTTF officers responded to the motel and located the defendant and the female entering a room, which was registered to Munoz.
An undercover OCHTTF investigator contacted the victim in the motel room and arrested Munoz at the scene.
At the time of his arrest, Munoz was in possession of a cell phone containing text messages consistent with pimping and trafficking the female.
Munoz’s sentencing hearing is Aug. 22.
Members of the OCHTTF and the OCDA work proactively to protect women and minors from falling victim to commercial sexual exploitation. This case was investigated by OCHTTF, a partnership between the Anaheim Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Costa Mesa Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, Irvine Police Department, Newport Beach Police Department, OCDA, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Ana Police Department and community and non-profit partners.
