It takes teamwork to end prostitution on the Western Ave. corridor
A new anti-sex trafficking strategy to combat illegal activities occurring along the Western Avenue corridor has been established. Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto described the multipronged program as “a group effort” between many city agencies.
NEWLY TRIMMED TREES on North Van Ness Avenue across from Van Ness Elementary.
She stated the first objective is to “shift criminalization away from the victims to the buyers and exploiters.”
At a press conference in City Hall in late January, she was joined by L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman; LAPD Deputy Chief Gerald Woodyard of Operations – West Bureau, Olympic Division LAPD Capt. Rachel Rodriguez; and Nayeli May, executive director of Journey Out, a nonprofit organization that assists victims of sex trafficking.
Feldstein Soto outlined task force plans to disrupt the demand by stopping the johns; make streets less conducive to sex trafficking by fixing broken streetlights and trimming trees; jail predators, profiters, and pimps; and lastly, increase public awareness.
Feldstein Soto has gone to Sacramento numerous times to strengthen laws that aid local law enforcement in arrests and make prosecution more straightforward. Two bills she lobbied for have become law. Assembly Bill 535 makes the intimidation and bullying of a sex worker a crime, and the other, State Bill 680, requires a sex offender to register with local law enforcement when convicted of having sex with a 14- to 17-year-old.
As Officer Woodyard stated, “[Capt.] Rachel [Rodriguez] has the lion’s share of the issue” on the Western corridor, which is bounded between Olympic and Santa Monica boulevards.
When the Chronicle reached out to Capt. Rodriguez she said, “We are excited for this collaboration to come to fruition.” She was quick to state that as of Jan. 1 of this year, California Penal Code 653.25—loitering with the intent to purchase commercial sex—is now, again, a misdemeanor, after being repealed by the State legislature in 2023 after the SB357 Safer Streets for All Act passed in July 2022. “We fully intend to enforce this misdemeanor, which will also impact the profitability and deter human trafficking.” Even without the previous legislation, the Olympic Division made 372 arrests for crimes related to sex trafficking in 2025.
WOMEN SEEN ON Western Avenue at 7:30 a.m. on Sat., Feb. 14.
With disdain in his voice and visible disgust on his face, Hochman warned sex trafficking exploiters that “The city is after them… This is your warning. There will be no sympathy once you are in handcuffs.” He said the issue normally involves men seeking sex from underage girls and sometimes boys. He spoke about how the prostitutes are lured into the life of being a sex worker and likened their desperate lives to what California Attorney General Rob Bonta called “modern-day slavery.”
A majority of the Western corridor is in Council District 13, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez’s district. With regards to this new cross-agency task force, Soto-Martínez said, “This effort brings together our office, the city [and county] attorney, LAPD, and service providers to take a coordinated, neighborhood-based approach.” His office allocated $200,000 to hire Journey Out to help the victims. According to his communication director, this amount is significant in bolstering efforts to combat human trafficking.
Work around the affected neighborhoods has already begun. Trees that residents have been pleading with CD13 to have trimmed so streetlights can shine through have been pruned. The specific areas as of press time are Van Ness Avenue between Rosewood Avenue and Clinton Street, and Elmwood and Maplewood avenues west of Western.
To emphasize their dedication to eliminating the sex trafficking industry, Feldstein Soto said, “Pimps, johns, predators, we’re coming after you. We’re determined to stop this blight throughout our city.”
Category: News
