A Southern California man described by prosecutors as a “notorious pimp” has been convicted of sex trafficking nine women and girls across the region over a four-year span, with two of his victims identified as minors. LeBaron Anthony Alexander Jr., 41, was found guilty on 13 felony counts, including human trafficking, pimping, pandering and firearm possession by a felon, and now faces up to 84 years in state prison.
Alexander trafficked his victims between January 2016 and February 2020 throughout Los Angeles County and other parts of Southern California, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. He recruited and groomed women for commercial sex work, contacting some of them through social media before convincing them to work for him, prosecutors said. As reported by KTLA, he violently beat several of his victims, and at least one required hospitalization for her injuries.
The case was prosecuted under case number BA484835 in Los Angeles Superior Court, following an investigation led by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Special Victims Bureau Human Trafficking Task Force. Deputy District Attorneys Emily Chai and Matthew Bunnett handled the prosecution, per the DA's office. Alexander's convictions break down into three counts of human trafficking of an adult, three counts of trafficking a minor for a commercial sex act, five counts of pimping an adult, one count of pandering an adult, and one count of possession of a firearm by a felon, the station's report notes.
DA Points to Survivors Who Testified
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said sex traffickers exploit victims and treat human lives as a means for profit. He also acknowledged the courage of the survivors who came forward and testified against Alexander, according to the same account. No sentencing date has been set for Alexander.
The Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Task Force that investigated Alexander operates under the Sheriff's Special Victims Bureau as a multi-agency partnership uniting local, state and federal law enforcement with social service providers across the county, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The task force focuses specifically on early victim identification and the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Parallel Cases Across the County
Alexander's conviction lands alongside several other active prosecutions handled by the DA's Human Sex Trafficking Section. Demont Andre Jennings was sentenced in October to 25 years to life in prison plus five additional years after a Long Beach Police Department investigation into a shooting that targeted an alleged rival sex trafficker and two female occupants of a vehicle, wounding two people. A jury convicted Jennings in July on two felony counts of shooting at an occupied motor vehicle.
In a separate case, Wendell Amar Swisher pleaded no contest in June to human trafficking of a minor after luring a 17-year-old girl from a Riverside foster home, persuading her to leave another trafficker before taking over her commercial sex exploitation; his sentencing is scheduled for October 20. Ryan Hosea Williams was sentenced in May to 16 years in state prison after pleading no contest to trafficking a 15-year-old girl he recruited online, monitoring her while hiding armed in motel bathrooms and managing transactions with buyers, the DA's office said.
Figueroa Corridor Remains an Enforcement Focus
Several active prosecutions, including pending cases against Fitzgeral Goss, Rafael Soto and Floyd Weathersby, center on alleged exploitation along the Figueroa Corridor in South Los Angeles. The 3.5-mile stretch of Figueroa Street has long been targeted by city, county and federal law enforcement as a hub of commercial sex exploitation, per the DA's office. The DA's office said it remains committed to prosecuting sex traffickers and people accused of exploiting women and minors throughout the county.
The scope of the problem extends well beyond these individual cases. The National Human Trafficking Hotline identified 1,908 human trafficking cases involving 2,841 victims in California in 2025 alone, keeping the state atop the nation for reported trafficking volume. The Los Angeles-based nonprofit Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking recorded a 185% increase in urgent trafficking cases in Los Angeles in 2020, a surge researchers tied to expanded digital recruitment by traffickers, according to Human Trafficking Front.
What California Law Allows for Sentencing
Under California Penal Code Section 236.1, human trafficking involving minors carries a sentence of 5, 8, or 12 years in state prison, rising to 15 years to life if force, fear or coercion was used, along with mandatory lifetime sex offender registration and fines up to $500,000, according to Cron Israels & Stark. Those statutory enhancements trace back to Proposition 35, the CASE Act, which California voters approved in 2012 to broaden legal definitions and increase prison terms for commercial sex offenses involving minors, with penalties that can include fines up to $1 million. Alexander's sentencing date has not yet been set.
