Orange County District Attorney Press Release
For Immediate Release, Case # 13WM07248: August 15, 2013
SEX PURCHASER SENTENCED FOR ATTEMPTING TO PURCHASE SEX SERVICES FROM WOMAN
WESTMINSTER – A sex purchaser was convicted and sentenced today for attempting to purchase sex services from a woman. Alberto Camacho Hernandez, 24, Anaheim, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of loitering with intent to commit prostitution. He was sentenced to three years of informal probation, 10 days in jail with the possibility of CalTrans in lieu of jail, and must submit to AIDS testing and education.
At approximately 8:20 p.m. on June 9, 2013, Hernandez pulled up in his truck alongside a woman whom he believed to be a prostitute on Beach Boulevard and Ball Road, an area known to law enforcement to be a high-prostitution area and is known to frequently be used by individuals who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain, including pimps, panderers, and human traffickers.
Hernandez spoke with the woman briefly before she entered his truck and drove off. An Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD) deputy witnessed the interaction and arrested the defendant for loitering with intent to commit prostitution.
This case was prosecuted by the Orange County District Attorney’s Human Exploitation And Trafficking (HEAT) Unit, which targets perpetrators who sexually exploit and traffic women and underage girls for financial gain, including pimps, panderers, and human traffickers. Commercial sex trafficking is the second most lucrative criminal enterprise behind narcotics trafficking. Often the perpetrators are gang members and/or career criminals.
The HEAT Unit also targets defendants who create a demand for prostitution by soliciting and purchasing sex, which increases the commercial sexual exploitation of women and children. The HEAT Unit uses a tactical plan called PERP: Prosecution of human trafficking perpetrators and sex purchasers; Education for law enforcement to properly handle human trafficking and pandering cases; Resources to raise public awareness and provide assistance to the victims; and Publicity to inform the community about the problem and notify human traffickers and sex purchasers that this crime cannot be perpetrated without suffering severe consequences.
The OCDA announced in April 2013 that he will publicize the names of defendants convicted of sexually exploiting women or children by soliciting sex acts as part of the campaign to reduce the demand for human exploitation and trafficking.
This case was investigated by OCSD and Deputy District Attorney Michael Bardeen of the HEAT Unit prosecuted this case.
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Tony Rackauckas, District Attorney
401 Civic Center Drive West
Santa Ana, CA 92701
Contacts:
Susan Kang Schroeder
Chief of Staff
Office: 714-347-8408
Cell: 714-292-2718
Farrah Emami
Spokesperson
Office: 714-347-8405
Cell: 714-323-4486