An Indian-origin hotel manager was arrested in Los Angeles in connection with a sex trafficking network.
An Indian-origin hotel manager was among the 10 people arrested and charged as several agencies targeted locations near the notorious Figueroa Pass in Operation Broken Blade.
The Figueroa Corridor, an area in South Los Angeles, is known for human trafficking and underage prostitution. Mukeshkumar Rambhai Patel, 45, the hotel manager at the site, faces a string of financial crimes linked to human trafficking.As agents combed the hotel, federal financial crimes investigators told ABC7 that Aher was not a trafficker but charged him with profiting from prostitution.“The money tells the story,” said Jose Gonzalez, IRS Criminal Investigations Officer. “As alleged, individuals associated with this site concealed large sums of illicit funds and manipulated records and structured deposits to conceal the proceeds of sex trafficking activities.”From September 2024 to January 2026, Aher deposited $64,581 in proceeds that he knew were derived from the gang’s sexual trafficking of children and adults. Aher is also charged with “structuring” or depositing smaller amounts at a time into bank accounts opened for this purpose to avoid banks reporting large cash deposits to the US government.
Hoover sex trafficking ring
Many of those arrested are members or associates of the well-known Hoover gang, which authorities say “largely controls sex trafficking and prostitution” along the corridor.
A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday names 51 victims, some as young as 14 years old.These members face charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking of a minor, sex trafficking through force, fraud or coercion, drug trafficking conspiracy and money laundering concealment.Federal prosecutors allege that “the Hoover family worked together to recruit new victims via social media or in person, focusing on underage girls and vulnerable young women, especially those with financial or emotional struggles or who had run away from home or were in the foster care system.”
Victims were recruited through false promises of a luxurious lifestyle, intimidation, and actual or threatened violence. Pimps also supplied their victims with drugs such as oxycodone and amphetamines to create an addiction that pimps could exploit.
““They target and exploit the most vulnerable girls in the foster care system,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Iseley. “This is about using a human being to make money for yourself.”Al-Osaili said: “They will beat them. One of them bit off a piece of meat from her cheek in her face, all the way to the cartilage.” “One of them was forced to have an abortion and then forced to work that same night.”
A list of the names of the ten arrested and accused
Cameron LockettCalled MoutonNakhali MillerJorge MelendezMauricio Ulloa Franco JrLagran LinuxMukeshkumar Rambhai AhirLenny Ray ManKellan YoungDejon McDonald Williams