LAPD Task Force Makes Numerous Arrests for Prostitution Activities

Los Angeles: On March 6, 2009, a LAPD prostitution task force operation resulted in a sizable number of arrests for prostitution activity in the area of Lincoln Boulevard and Indiana Avenue.

The seven-hour operation started around 8:00 p.m.  Undercover female police officers posed as prostitutes on the street and then arrested violators who stopped and solicited them for sex. Undercover male officers also conducted an outcall operation from a hotel on Airport Boulevard by posing as “Johns” and utilizing the internet to contact prostitutes on websites where sexual services were being solicited.

The LAPD Pacific Division Vice Unit, in conjunction with personnel from Hollywood Vice, West Los Angeles Vice, the Detective Support and Vice Division, Jail Division and the Department’s Scientific Investigation Division comprised and conducted the task force. Prostitution task forces are conducted periodically in areas prone to prostitution and other vice-related activities.

The following people were arrested for 647 (b) PC-Prostitution and processed at the LAPD Pacific Division police station:

 Name
 Age
 City of Residence

 Ahmad Amir
 62
Los Angeles

 Choeun Ngiam

 26
Los Angeles

Gwendolyn Perkins

  27
Los Angeles

 Florencio Vasquez

 21
Venice

 Derege Negatu

 38
Los Angeles

 Ashawna Lane

 23
Los Angeles

 Lidia Silva

 48
Los Angeles

 Pedro Ruiz

 24
Los Angeles

 Kiera Jones

 20
Hawthorne

 Florencio Lopez

 37
Los Angeles

 Yidan Zao

 30
Monterey Park

 Kimber Waldrop
23

Encino

 Joseph Clark

  47
Los Angeles

                      
The arrest of the people above does not imply guilt nor does it guarantee prosecution for the charge.  All arrests are referred to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office.  Questions may be directed to Officer-in-Charge Sergeant Mason at the Pacific Division Vice Unit, 310-482-6481.