Two men and one woman were arrested on Thursday and were accused of human trafficking, pimping, and pandering.
The three individuals—Gin Woo Park, 41, and Heung Soon Kim, 56, who are both from Los Angeles, and Miyoun Kim, 56, from Newport Beach—rented apartments in Los Angeles and Irvine and allegedly used the spaces as brothels, officials said. The brothels were found out by undercover police officers from the Irvine Police Department.
Irvine P.D. Commander Julia Engen told Korea Times that the investigation started in June 2013.
She said, “Over the course of the investigation, detectives identified multiple suspects and locations involved in the prostitution activity.”
Engen added that Irvine P.D. received help from FBI, Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, and Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
The district attorney’s office said that Park and Heung Soon Kim, who face two felony counts of human trafficking and 13 felony counts of pimping and pandering each, would receive a sentence of over 40 years in state prison, while Miyoun Kim, who faces six felony counts of pimping and pandering, would receive a little over 12 years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Times further stated that the office requested for $1 million each for the bail of Park and Heung Soon Kim, and $250,000 for Miyoun Kim.
This incident comes after an arrest of four men and one woman in Moreno Valley just last week, who attempted to kidnap a woman and force her into prostitution.
These two cases seem to confirm a recent finding that arrests for human trafficking has been on the rise. Arrests on charges related to human trafficking more than doubled from 2011 to 2013, according to the Orange County Human Trafficking Victim Report 2014.
