Delgadillo seeks anti-prostitution injunction for Figueroa
The city attorney asks a judge to bar 36 convicted prostitutes and five known pimps from walking anywhere along a 5.7-mile stretch of the boulevard in South Los Angeles.
Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said today that he has asked a judge to bar 36 convicted prostitutes and five pimps from walking anywhere on a 5.7-mile stretch of Figueroa Street, part of a larger effort to crack down on a brazen sex trade in South Los Angeles.
Delgadillo's proposed injunction is designed to provide relief for neighborhoods along Figueroa, which police say is the busiest corridor for prostitution in the city.
Prostitutes work the sidewalks in broad daylight, standing on routes used by children to travel to and from school, said Det. Bill Margolis, a 35-year veteran in the Los Angeles Police Department. As pimps seek to protect their turf, prostitution has generated more violent crimes, he said.
"If this kind of activity was occurring in other parts of the city, people would be in an uproar," he said. "They wouldn't stand for it. But this has plagued this neighborhood for years."
Delgadillo currently relies on 36 separate injunctions to limit gang activity in neighborhoods stretching from Wilmington to the San Fernando Valley. But the Figueroa proposal, filed in court on Friday, represents the first effort by the city to use such a tactic to target the illegal sex trade.
If approved, the injunction would cover a stretch of Figueroa bounded by Vernon Street on the north and El Segundo Boulevard on the south. Pimps named in the injunction would not be allowed within 100 feet of Figueroa at any time, said Deputy City Atty. Daniel Whitley.
Prostitutes listed in the injunction would be permitted to cross Figueroa at only two intersections, Manchester and Slauson avenues -- and not on foot, he added. "They can cross in a motorized vehicle without stopping," Whitley said.
The 36 women named in the court filing have been convicted on prostitution charges a total of 127 times on Figueroa in the past two years, Whitley said. One repeat offender, LaQuiesha Gibson, has been convicted on such charges 13 times, according to the injunction.
Gibson, 21, is identified as having 11 aliases, including "Victory Story," "BB," and "Bitch Beautiful." Four of the five convicted pimps named in the injunction are affiliated with street gangs, according to the proposed injunction.
Prostitution has been a problem for decades on Figueroa, where many of the illegal sex workers are runaways or crack cocaine addicts, police said. Officers have picked up offenders who are as young as 10, Margolis said.
