Attorney General Kamala D. Harris this week announced that Andrew Jordan, 37, was sentenced to 21 years, 4 months in prison in Los Angeles County Superior Court after being found guilty on felony charges, including human trafficking, pimping, pandering, domestic violence and assault.
The guilty verdict follows a joint investigation by the Long Beach Police Department’s Vice Investigations and Gang Enforcement Sections, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Custody Investigative Services, Operation Safe Jails, the Simi Valley Police Department, and the Los Angeles Human Exploitation and Trafficking Task Force, who helped identify human-trafficking victims who were exploited by Jordan, leading to his September 2015 arrest. Jordan has been in custody since his arrest.
After a nearly two-week trial, the jury returned its verdicts on Sept. 15, 2016, finding the defendant guilty as charged. The victims testified that the defendant forced them to commit commercial sex acts and kept the proceeds, according to Harris’s office. Jordan dropped each victim off in known prostitution areas and ordered them to solicit business. He monitored their whereabouts by circling the streets and via text message. He collected the money in between sex acts and set strict rules, including how much time the victims should be with a client, what geographic areas they could go to, and how much they needed to make each day. Each victim recounted occasions when she broke one of the rules and was severely punished by Jordan with a physical beating, according to the attorney general’s office.
“Human trafficking is a heinous crime where perpetrators profit from the trading and selling of human beings. Today’s sentence sends a clear signal that this form of modern-day slavery will not be tolerated,” Harris said. “I want to thank the Long Beach Police Department, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, the Simi Valley Police Department, the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office and the lawyers and special agents of our own California Department of Justice for their continued efforts to work collaboratively to hold human traffickers accountable and secure justice for the survivors.”
Source: CA attorney general’s office
