For decades, the infamous Figueora Street corridor in downtown Los Angeles has been a seedy haven for sex workers and human trafficking.
In a new effort to take down a particularly heinous gang that allegedly runs a sex ring in the area, the federal government and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) executed a sweeping pre-dawn bust targeting eleven suspects wanted for allegedly drugging, raping, and selling women and children as young as 14-years-old.
The bust was a partnership between the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and LAPD.
Fox News was exclusively embedded during Wednesday's early-morning operation aimed at taking down the Hoover street gang. The feds say members of the Hoover gang brazenly posted pictures on social media with stacks of cash, designer clothes and cars to lure vulnerable women into sex work with the promise of a lavish lifestyle.
Instead, the 150-page criminal complaint says women ended up enslaved in a human trafficking enterprise in which they were mercilessly beaten, raped and sold for sex.
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Operation Broken Blade successfully took into custody 10 out of 11 of its targets. One suspect, 31-year-old Bryan Isrel managed to flee and remains at large - but Isrel is considered a fugitive by the DOJ, which is actively searching for him.
Federal investigators say a female, Amaya Armstead, who goes by the street name "Lady Duck" was a lead target and prolific human trafficker. Armsted's moniker Lady Duck is even tattooed on at least four victim's bodies.
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The criminal complaint alleges one instance when: "Armstead posted a video of herself beating a woman in a convenience store, holding her down by the hair and repeatedly kicking and kneeing her ...The woman shouts that she's pregnant, but defendant ARMSTEAD continues to beat her."
At a downtown motel, which the Feds allege is a site that the gang uses to sell women and minors, federal agents surrounded one of their eleven suspects and took him into custody.
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Police say during the operation they also rescued four victims, including a minor.
The defendants are charged with various crimes including sex trafficking of minors, sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion; drug trafficking and gun charges, according to the criminal complaint. Each faces decades in prison if convicted.
