A Long Beach man arrested after a domestic-dispute call last week is now facing federal child-sex trafficking charges for allegedly forcing a 17-year-old girl and another unidentified victim into prostitution.
Ralph Allen Jackson Jr., 40, who went by the street nickname “Mac Wimp,” was arrested by Long Beach Police Department vice detectives on state charges last Tuesday after they responded to a domestic-disturbance call at his residence. After determining that the incident involved child-sex trafficking, detectives contacted special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
“Forcing anyone, much less a child, to prostitute themselves [sic] from morning until night with no rest, little food and threats of physical harm is not only criminal, it is morally reprehensible,” said Claude Arnold, special agent in charge for HSI Los Angeles.
{loadposition latestnews}In the criminal complaint filed Friday, Jackson is charged with sex trafficking of children by force. An affidavit filed in the case outlines how Jackson met the underage victim through a mutual friend in March and used threats of violence to quickly force the girl into prostitution. The victim said she was required to work streets in Compton for up to 12 hours a day and that Jackson also prostituted her through online services. She said she was forced to have sex with 50 men in two weeks and was taken to a tattoo shop where she was forced to get a tattoo that said “Mac Wimp’s bitch.”
If Jackson is convicted, he will face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a statutory maximum penalty of life in federal prison.
The case is the third brought against sex traffickers in Long Beach since the beginning of the year. In March, Marquis Monte “Taylor” Horn, 34, was arrested by federal authorities for recruiting hopeful models on the internet for his pimping operation, and 36 year-old Roshaun “Kevin” Nakia Porter was indicted on similar federal charges at the end of April for his role in the same ring, which unraveled after it was caught in an FBI prostitution sting in Santa Ana.
Last month, two young Long Beach men were arrested for allegedly kidnapping two adult women and forcing them into prostitution, crimes discovered only after one of the victims escaped from a Culver City hotel room where she was being kept and contacted authorities.
“The actions of those who prey on the vulnerability of young women in our community and exploit them through threats and intimidation will not be tolerated,” said Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell. “We will continue to join forces with our federal partners to ensure these individuals are being prosecuted to the fullest extent possible.”
In this most recent case, the victim fled her captor’s residence, and, when she returned last Tuesday to retrieve her things, there was an altercation, which prompted the domestic-disturbance call to the Long Beach Police Department that led to his arrest, investigators said.
Jackson is expected be turned over to federal authorities on Tuesday and to make his initial appearance in federal court the same afternoon.
Authorities believe there may be unknown victims of Jackson. Anyone with information about this matter is encouraged to call HSI’s toll-free tip line at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) or submit a information using HSI’s online tip form at http://www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp.
Read more:
- More Victims May Exist After Human Trafficking Arrests
- L.A. WEEKLY: Marquis Monte Horn, Alleged Pimp, Recruited Would-Be Models Online, Feds In L.A. Say