Six renowned members and partners of the Hoover Criminal Gang were arrested on Wednesday in what the authorities qualified the first major withdrawal of a sex traffic operation in the Figueroa corridor of South Angeles.
The Hoovers largely controlled sexual traffic and prostitution along a 3.5 -mile section of Figueroa Street between approximately Slauson Avenue and Century Boulevard from February 2021 to August 2025, according to a federal accusation of 155 pages tilting 11 people.
Members of gangs and associates would have recruited vulnerable minors and young women – including runaways and children from the family investment system – via social media and qualified them as tattoos, prosecutors accused.
The victims were recruited by false promises of a luxurious lifestyle, intimidation and real violence or threatened and have been applied to drugs ranging from the synthetic analgesics to the amphetamines, according to the indictment.
The federal authorities allege that Amaya Armstead, 25, alias “Lady Duck”, of South Los Angeles, was the de facto chief of the whole 112 of the Hoover Criminal Gang and the sexual trafficking of a 14 -year -old girl. Armstead was accused of conspiracy to violate the law on influenced and corrupt organizations.
Armstead's lawyer refused to comment.
Individuals The US Ministry of Justice is gang members and Associates of the Hoover Criminal Gang was arrested on Wednesday in what the authorities qualified the first major withdrawal of a sex traffic operation in the Figueroa corridor of South Los Angeles.
(Provided by the Ministry of Justice)
The accused alongside Armstead were Kenyondre Young, 22 years old; Naziz Harris, 19; Derail Robinson, 22 years old; Milestone Phillips, 22 years old; Bryan Isrel, 31, Tejohn Gray, 25 years old; And Tommy Crockham, 30, – all of the south of the were also loaded with Avery Amoako, 27, long Beach; Jared Evans, 29, from the region of the city of the city of the and Mathew Brooks, 22, of Riverside.
In addition to the accusation of Rico, the defendants face various other accusations, including the sexual traffic of minors; Sexual traffic by force, fraud or coercion; transport of a minor for sexual traffic; sexual exploitation of a child; drug trafficking conspiracy; Money laundering to promote a specified illegal activity; And conspiracy to buy straw firearms.
Local and federal authorities arrested Amoako, Evans, Brooks, Phillips and Crockham on Wednesday morning. Armstead was transferred from state guard to federal guard. The authorities are still looking for Isrel. Three accused are in police custody in California and Harris in Nebraska.
Armstead, Amoako, Evans, Phillips and Brooks pleaded not guilty on Wednesday afternoon.
Bill Essayli, the best federal prosecutor of the, described the operation “The first stage of the return of the Figueroa corridor – long known as prostitution – back to its residents who have suffered for too long while criminals were allowed to run.”
“There is no significant consequence for their conduct under state law, so that the federal government – helped by its local law partners – will intervene to ensure that these criminals are faced with long prison terms,” said Essayli in a press release.
Nicknamed “The Blade”, the Figueroa corridor is by far the most notorious sexual trade center or the city's “track”. Police officials and defenders of victims of the milking claim that the Gang Hoovers has long held a workforce in the region.
According to the indictment, the Hoovers were formed in the late 1970s and their territory largely included the Figueroa corridor.
Members of gangs and associates would have acted as pimps “by managing and monitoring their victims, by pooling resources to rent several motel rooms for commercial sexual dates … and by sending you money via an application in cash and Apple Pay”, according to the press release from the American lawyer.
The victims were allegedly forced to put the product of the commercial dates of the pimp. If a victim refused or disobeyed a pimps otherwise, he should have faced a discipline, including assaults, reprimand and public humiliation, restraint of affection, drugs or food, draconian “extension” or dismissal, according to the accusation.
In exchange, according to the indictment, pimps were to offer protective, clothing, housing, food and beauty services. The prosecutors said that sex workers had to make their hair and nails at any time “because their grooming was a symbol of status that reflects on its pimp.”
The victims were also marked with a defendant's nickname tattoos, according to the indictment.
Gang members and partners would have focused on the recruitment of vulnerable minor girls and young women, “in particular those who have financial or emotional difficulties or who had fled from their home”, according to the press release from the federal prosecutors.
In one case in April 2022, Gray and two accomplices went to a notorious San Bernardino area for prostitution activities and would have tried to force two women in their car. The two victims freed themselves, according to the press release.
In April 2024, according to the indictment, Armstead and Evans would have rented rooms at the Stadium Inn, a South Angeles South Motel, one in which a 14 -year -old girl was the victim of sexual traffic for at least three consecutive days.
According to the press release, some members of the Hoovers criminal enterprise produced music and rap videos, which has often glorified gang, sex trafficking, the sale of drugs and the possession of firearms. Gang members would also have published videos and photographs of their assaults against others on social networks: “In order to intimidate their victims and ensure their compliance in the execution of commercial work for the enrichment of their pimps and the Gang Hoover itself.”
If they are convicted, some accused would risk at least 15 years and potentially for life in federal prison.
The staff editor Libor Jany has contributed to this report.
