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LOS ANGELES () — As part of an 7 On Your Side Investigates series, Eyewitness News is showing you life on the Figueroa Corridor — a notorious Los Angeles hub for human trafficking.
Authorities are trying to crack down on crime in the area.
This week, a man was sentenced to more than 28 years in prison for trafficking a 17-year-old and a 19-year-old. The man is violent, admitting tothe brutal torture of the teens.
One of his victims was lured through social media, something that’s not uncommon along the Figueroa Corridor.
SEE ALSO: 7 special ‘Sex in Plain Sight’ looks at rampant prostitution along LA’s Figueroa Corridor
Los Angeles is known for being the home of Hollywood and having some of the world’s best beaches, but it also has a much darker side: a notorious hub for human trafficking.
Eyewitness News spoke to a human trafficking survivor who is now using her experience to help other women and young girls.
Los Angeles police tell Eyewitness News that some of the women you see wearing high heels and revealing outfits along “the Blade” are not adults at all.
“For some reason, we’re conditioned to believe they are adults doing this willingly,” said LAPD Sgt. Al Navarro.
“When you’re sleeping, there’s a 13-year-old girl who’s just seen her ninth sex buyer of the day,” LAPD officer and vice investigator Liz Armendariz said. “The youngest on Figueroa Street that I’ve rescued is a 12-year-old, and the youngest ever rescued along the Figueroa Corridor was 9 years old,” Armendariz said.
“They are being bought and sold and traded and abused,” Sara Elander said.
Elander works for the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Saving Innocence. She told 7 that Figueroa Street is one of the most violent corridors for human trafficking in the country.
READ MORE: LA leaders want to crack down on human trafficking along Figueroa Corridor. What’s their plan?
As the city prepares to host major global events, L.A. officials are stepping up efforts to curb rampant sex and human trafficking along the Figueroa Corridor.
Saving Innocence has helped nearly 2,000 trafficking victims in and around L.A. since 2010. The organization provides much-needed resources to women and girls who want to escape “the Blade”.
One of those trafficking survivors is Talya Jones. She now works with Saving Innocence after spending her teenage years on Figueroa Street. She ended up working “the Blade” after falling in love with an older man when she was just 13 years old.
“They call it boyfriend pimping,” Jones, who is now 25, said. “So it was that type of older man attraction. I needed certain necessities. I wanted to be a teenage girl. I wanted to go out, hang out, a lot of parties, and hang out.”
But in order to keep the relationship going, she was required to work “the Blade” and bring in money. If she didn’t, there were consequences.
“That’s where, I think, the physical abuse comes in, the psychological, the drug abuse,” Jones said. “You’re forced to stay up. It starts with like, sleep being deprived. You have to stay out.”
Case workers with Saving Innocence kept in touch with Jones and helped her leave Figueroa Street when she was ready.
“Until men are unwilling to purchase children for sex, we are going to have this issue,” Elander said.
The demand to buy sex, especially with children, is likely only going to grow. Traffickers know that major events like the World Cup, the Super Bowl, and the Olympics will increase business. All of those major events are coming to L.A. over the next few years.
Watch the 7 On Your Side Investigates special “Sex in Plain Sight: The Figueroa Corridor” this Saturday at 10:30 p.m. on 7.
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