10 Defendants, Including South L.A. Motel Manager, Arrested in Latest Human Trafficking Sweep Targeting L.A.’s Figueroa Corridor

LOS ANGELES - Six members and associates of the South Los Angeles-based Hoover Criminal Gang - and the manager of a South L.A. motel - were among nine defendants arrested today, and 10 defendants arrested total, on federal indictments charging them with a series of crimes, including sex trafficking children and adults along the Figueroa Corridor.

Today's takedown is the second major operation that federal and local law enforcement have taken on the Figueroa Corridor, an area of Los Angeles that has long been notorious for street prostitution, the first such action occurring last year.

"Sex trafficking of young women and children ranks among the worst criminal offenses our office prosecutes - truly the lowest of the low," said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. "We hope today's arrests break the cycle of crime and abuse in one of L.A.'s most notorious human trafficking corridors."

"The actions taken today by HSI are another decisive blow against those who have exploited the vulnerable people of our community, and they will now face the consequences of those actions," said Eddy Wang, Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Los Angeles. "HSI remains steadfast in our mission to protect victims and pursue justice against human traffickers. We will continue to work with our partners to ensure those responsible are held fully accountable and that victims receive the support they deserve."

"By working hand in hand with our federal partners, we are doing far more than making arrests," said Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell. "We are dismantling the criminal enterprises that profit from human trafficking, rescuing victims, and reclaiming the Figueroa Corridor for the community that has always deserved better."

"As alleged, the individuals associated with the Stadium Inn concealed significant amounts of illicit cash, manipulated business records, and structured deposits across multiple accounts to hide the true source of their income," said Darren Lian, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation's Los Angeles Field Office. "Working closely with our federal and local partners, IRS-CI remains committed to exposing and disrupting financial schemes that enable human trafficking and other violent crimes."

According to a 65-count superseding indictment returned on June 25 and unsealed today, from February 2021 to June 2026, the Hoovers largely controlled sex trafficking and prostitution in the Figueroa Corridor of South Los Angeles. Members and associates of the gang acted as pimps to promote and manage sex trafficking. The indictment lists 51 victims impacted by these alleged crimes.

The superseding indictment adds seven new defendants - six of them being Hoover Criminal Gang members charged with federal crimes such as racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking of a minor, sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion, drug trafficking conspiracy, and concealment money laundering:

• Cameron Lockett, 23, a.k.a. "Jankie" and "Hesopayed," of Anaheim;
• Caleed Mouton, 26, a.k.a. "Poo" and "Pooski," of South Los Angeles;
• Nakhali Miller, 30, a.k.a. "FY3," of South Los Angeles;
• Jorge Melendez, 23, a.k.a. "Crim Style," of South Los Angeles;
• Mauricio Ulloa-Franco, Jr., 23, a.k.a. "Ese Face" and "Face," of Palmdale; and
• Lagrane Lenox, 30, a.k.a. "King Blue" and "Blue," of Compton.

The seventh new defendant charged in this case is Mukeshkumar Rambhai Ahir, 45, of South Los Angeles, the manager of the South L.A.-based Stadium Inn & Spas motel, who is charged with financially benefiting from the Hoover gang's sex trafficking operation. Specifically, from September 2024 to January 2026, Ahir deposited $64,581 in proceeds that he knew derived from the gang's sex trafficking of children and adults.

Ahir also is charged with "structuring," or depositing smaller amounts at a time into bank accounts opened for this purpose to avoid banks from reporting large cash deposits to the U.S. government.

According to the superseding indictment, the Hoovers worked together to recruit new victims via social media or in person, focusing on vulnerable minor girls and young women, particularly those with financial or emotional struggles or who had run away from home or in the foster care system. Victims were recruited via false promises of a luxurious lifestyle, intimidation, and actual or threatened violence. Pimps also plied their victims with drugs such as oxycodone and amphetamines to create addictions that the pimps could exploit.

The defendants also facilitated each other's pimping by managing, monitoring, and disciplining their victims, pooling resources to rent motel rooms for commercial sex dates, driving each other's victims to and from the streets where victims solicited commercial sex work, sourcing third parties to create online profiles for sex advertisements, and sending each other money via Cash App and Apple Pay.

Victims were required to remit all proceeds from commercial sex dates to the pimp. A victim who refused or who otherwise disobeyed a pimp faced discipline, including assaults, branding of a defendant's moniker, berating, public humiliation, and withholding of affection, drugs or food.

For example, in November 2024 Lockett allegedly beat one victim in her back and ribs, bit off a chunk of her cheek then, after the beating, gave her a Percocet pill, sent her to the hospital to get stitches, and pressured her to lie to police about what happened to her.

Mouton allegedly trafficked three minors (ages 14, 16, and 17), obtained a fake identification card for at least one of them for her to rent hotel rooms in her name, and in July 2025 ordered a minor victim to have an abortion and continue engaging in commercial sex work later that day.

Melendez is charged with sex trafficking a 14-year-old victim through force, including in January 2024, punching her at least five times in the face while holding a heavy watch and dragging her by her hair as punishment for not making enough money from commercial sex work.

Lenox is accused of trafficking a minor victim on the Figueroa Corridor and in Phoenix, where in June 2024 he produced child sexual abuse material (CSAM) of himself having sexual intercourse with the victim.

As part of this human trafficking sweep, three other alleged sex traffickers were indicted in stand-alone cases. Two defendants were arrested this morning, and the third was arrested on June 24, 2026.

• Kenny Ray Mann, 38, a.k.a. "KR," of Lynwood, is charged with sex trafficking two minors - ages 16 and 17 - and trafficking at least one of the victims when she became an adult through force, fraud, or coercion. He was arrested on Monday, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, and is scheduled to go to trial on August 18.
• Kylan Young, 23, a.k.a. "K2," of Buena Park, is charged with sex trafficking a minor, age 15, and through force, fraud, or coercion.
• Dejon MacDonald Williams, 23, a.k.a. "Motion" and "D1," of South Los Angeles, is charged with sex trafficking three victims - two minors (ages 16 and 17) through force, fraud, or coercion, and one adult through force, fraud, or coercion.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

If convicted, some defendants would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and would face a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The 11 original defendants charged last year have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to go on trial on March 18, 2027.

Homeland Security Investigations; IRS Criminal Investigation; the Los Angeles Police Department; and the United States Attorney's Office are investigating this matter. The investigation was supported by the Nebraska State Patrol; Keith County Attorney's Office; Nebraska Department of Justice Office of the Attorney General; California Highway Patrol; the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services; the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; and Saving Innocence.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders.

Assistant United States Attorneys Chelsea Norell, Mirelle Raza, and Rahul Hari of the Major Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.