Feds bust sex trafficking operation in LA’s infamous Figueroa Corridor

Federal and local authorities conducted a joint operation on early Wednesday morning, descending upon the Stadium Inn & Spas motel in South LA with their guns drawn to arrest the on-site manager, identified as Mukeshkumar Rambhai Ahir, 45, of South Los Angeles.

Prosecutors have accused Ahir of renting 90 percent of the motel's rooms to men who paid to have sex with victims, including minors as young as 14. He allegedly deposited more than $64,500 in proceeds that "he knew derived from the gang's sex trafficking of children and adults," according to the indictment.

Ahir has been charged with financially benefiting from the Hoover Gang's sex trafficking operation and "structuring," or depositing smaller amounts of cash into bank accounts at a time to avoid banks from reporting large cash deposits to the US government.

Mukeshkumar Rambhai Ahir

The Hoover pimps have been accused of recruiting victims via social media or in person, targeting vulnerable minor girls and women, including those who had run away from home or were in the foster care system. The defendants facilitated each other's pimping by managing, monitoring, and disciplining their victims, prosecutors said. They allegedly pooled resources to rent motel rooms for commercial sex dates, drove victims to solicit commercial sex work on the street, and created sex advertisements for the victims, according to the indictment, which lists 51 victims, many of whom are minors.

"Victims were recruited via false promises of a luxurious lifestyle, intimidation, and actual or threatened violence," the press release states. "Pimps also plied their victims with drugs such as oxycodone and amphetamines to create addictions that the pimps could exploit." The victims were required to give all proceeds from commercial sex dates to their pimp, and were subjected to violence if they failed to do so.

Six members of the Hoover Criminal Gang have been federally charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking of a minor, sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion, drug trafficking conspiracy, and money laundering concealment. The indicted gang members have been identified as:

• Cameron Lockett, 23, of Anaheim.
• Caleed Mouton, 26, of South Los Angeles.
• Nakhali Miller, 30, of South Los Angeles.
• Jorge Melendez, 23, of South Los Angeles.
• Mauricio Ulloa-Franco Jr., 23, of Palmdale.
• Lagrane Lenox, 30, of Compton.

In November 2024, defendant Lockett allegedly brutally assaulted a victim, biting off a chunk of her cheek, and then sent her to the hospital to get stitches. He reportedly drugged the victim and pressured her to lie to police about what had happened to her, according to the indictment.

Defendant Mouton has been accused of trafficking three minors, ages 14, 16, and 17. He allegedly obtained a fake ID for at least one of the victims so she could rent a hotel room. Mouton also ordered a minor victim to have an abortion in July 2025 and made her continue sex work later that day, court documents state.

Melendez allegedly sex trafficked a 14-year-old girl through force, and physically beat her as punishment for not making enough money from commercial sex work. Defendant Lennox has been accused of trafficking a minor victim on the Fugueroa Corridor and producing child sex abuse material (CSAM) with the victim, who he allegedly had sexual intercourse with, according to the indictment.

Three other alleged sex traffickers were indicted in stand-alone cases. This includes:

• Kenny Ray Mann, 38, of Lynwood. He faces charges of sex trafficking two minors and one adult through force, fraud, and coercion.
• Kylan Young, 23, of Buena Park, has been charged with sex trafficking a minor, age 15, through force, fraud, or coercion.
• Dejon MacDonald Williams, 23, of South Los Angeles. He has been charged with sex trafficking three victims, including two minors, through force, fraud, and coercion.

This is the second large-scale federal crackdown on the Figueroa Corridor since August 2025.

"Sex trafficking of young women and children ranks among the worst criminal offenses our office prosecutes - truly the lowest of the low," said First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli in a press release. "We hope today's arrests break the cycle of crime and abuse in one of L.A.'s most notorious human trafficking corridors."

The joint operation was spearheaded by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and the IRS Criminal Investigation unit. The FBI also assisted with arrests on Wednesday.

"The actions taken today by HSI are another decisive blow against those who have exploited the vulnerable people of our community, and they will not face the consequences of those actions," said Eddy Wang, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Los Angeles. "HSI remains steadfast in our mission to protect victims and pursue justice against human traffickers."

If convicted, some of the defendants face a mandatory minimum of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

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