Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces 21-Year Sentence in Long Beach Human Trafficking Case

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced that Andrew Jordan, 37, was sentenced to 21 years, 4 months in prison in Los Angeles County Superior Court after being found guilty on felony charges, including human trafficking, pimping, pandering, domestic violence, and assault.

"Human trafficking is a heinous crime where perpetrators profit from the trading and selling of human beings. Today’s sentence sends a clear signal that this form of modern-day slavery will not be tolerated,” said Attorney General Harris. “I want to thank the Long Beach Police Department, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the Simi Valley Police Department, the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office and the lawyers and Special Agents of our own California Department of Justice for their continued efforts to work collaboratively to hold human traffickers accountable and secure justice for the survivors.”

The guilty verdict follows a joint investigation by the Long Beach Police Department’s Vice Investigations and Gang Enforcement Sections, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Custody Investigative Services, Operation Safe Jails, the Simi Valley Police Department, and the Los Angeles Human Exploitation and Trafficking Task Force, who helped identify human trafficking victims who were exploited by Jordan, leading to Jordan’s September 2015 arrest. Jordan has been in custody since his arrest.

After a nearly two-week trial, the jury returned its verdicts on September 15, 2016, finding the defendant guilty as charged. The victims testified that the defendant forced them to commit commercial sex acts and kept the proceeds. He dropped each victim off in known prostitution areas and ordered them to solicit business. He monitored their whereabouts by circling the streets and via text message. He collected the money in between sex acts and set strict rules, including how much time the victims should be with a client, what geographic areas they could go to, and how much they needed to make each day. Each victim recounted occasions where she broke one of the rules and was severely punished by Jordan with a physical beating.

Attorney General Harris has prioritized fighting human trafficking throughout California. The California Department of Justice has advocated for increased collaboration among all levels of law enforcement, working with federal, state, and local agencies to investigate and prosecute human trafficking crimes.  

The Attorney General’s office is actively investigating and prosecuting human trafficking cases across California, most recently announcing the arrest of three individuals as part of an ongoing investigation into a sex trafficking case in San Diego. The joint investigation and operation, known as “Operation Hotel Tango,” was conducted by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes the California Department of Justice and 19 local and federal law enforcement agencies. The investigation resulted in the arrest of Tyrone Evans, 40, who was charged on 22 felony counts of human trafficking, pimping and pandering in San Diego County. Lila Leflorsm, 36, and Natasha McElrath, 37, were also arrested in connection with the operation and are accused of using social media to recruit teenage women and negotiate transactions.

Last year, the Office of the Attorney General released a resource guide to help companies comply with the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. The law requires large retailers and manufacturers conducting business in California to disclose on their websites their “efforts to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from [their] direct supply chain for tangible goods offered for sale.”

In 2012, Attorney General Harris created a Human Trafficking Work Group and released a report, The State of Human Trafficking in California, which discussed the growth of human trafficking crimes statewide and the challenges with combatting them effectively.