A 21-year-old Long Beach man was formally charged Wednesday for attempting to pimp a fictitious 17-year-old girl on social media, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced today.
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Kalan Shon Williams was charged with one felony count each of human trafficking of a minor, attempting to pimp a minor and pandering during his arraignment yesterday, a release stated. Williams faces a sentencing enhancement for prior strike conviction related to a 2011 robbery in Los Angeles.
Officials accuse Williams of being a pimp who exploits women and children for financial gain, stating that between January and July Williams allegedly contacted a member of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force (OCHTTF) on social media, thinking the member was a teenage girl.
He repeatedly requested the fictitious 17-year-old to perform commercial sex acts for his benefit, authorities alleged, and offered to set up advertisements on websites known for prostitution, as well as take her to areas across the state to engage in prostitution.
“With the rise in popularity of social media and ease of meeting people on the Internet, many pimps and human traffickers utilize a variety of social media to locate potential victims,” the release stated. “The victims are often required to turn over all payment they receive for sex acts from sex purchasers to their pimp.”
The defendant allegedly asked the task force member “to call him ‘Daddy,’ and to send him $1,500 which he believed the fictitious minor had received from sex purchasers.”
Williams was arrested Monday, July 25 in Long Beach after OCHTTF members identified him through their investigation.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled on Aug. 4 at the North Justice Center in Fullerton. If convicted, Williams faces a maximum sentence of 24 years in state prison.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Daniel Varon of the HEAT Unit, according to the release.
OCHTTF, which investigated the case, is comprised of personnel with the Anaheim Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Costa Mesa Police Department, Huntington Beach Police Department, Irvine Police Department, OCDA, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Santa Ana Police Department and community and nonprofit partners.