SAN DIEGO—Twenty—two alleged gang members of the “Tycoons”and gang associates are charged in a federal indictment with 
racketeering conspiracy involving the cross-country sex trafficking of underage girls, officials said.
Many of the girls were recruited from East County middle and high schools, official said Friday.
Officials said detectives and agents from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, with assistance from other agencies, made 14 arrests and served 11 search warrants and Hemet, California; Tucson, Arizona, and Austin, Texas.
One defendant is a fugitive, authorities said.
“Victims of sex trafficking are young, just getting started in life,” said U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy. “They have hopes and dreams of being loved and having beautiful lives ahead of them. Gang members are exploiting these dreams and stealing the souls of children. They are crushing them with false promises that lead to physical and emotional abuse and sexual slavery.”
The indictment, unsealed today, alleges that the defendants are associated with a relatively new gang formed in 2008 called “Tycoons,” which operated a nationwide prostitution enterprise primarily from its base in Lemon Grove and Spring Valley.
The investigation began as a result of information provided by members of the East County community who saw troubling signs and reported them. Duffy said she is encouraged that community members came together to address this problem.
“They did not look the other way,” Duffy said. “They saw signs of trouble, and they reported it. As a result, girls and young women exploited in this case have been extended a path from misery to safety, and we have started on a path to end this criminal enterprise.”
According tocourt documents, the enterprise was also involved in other crimes such as attempted murder, assaults, drug trafficking, robberies, residential and commercial burglaries, and beatings, intimidation and threats of violence against female victims, witnesses in criminal cases and members of the community.
Over the course of the two-year investigation, law enforcement identified about 100 girls and young women—as young as 12 years old, up to the mid-twenties—who were manipulated with promises of a lavish lifestyle or were forced through threats or actual violence to work as prostitutes for the enterprise, according to a search warrant.
Many of them were recruited on school campuses in East County by pimps and experienced, high-ranking prostitutes, the warrant said.
During the course of the conspiracy, the girls and women were transported from San Diego County to customers in California and beyond—to Texas, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada and elsewhere, the indictment said.
The defendants allegedly used a number of methods to manipulate the recruits, including false promises of a luxurious lifestyle, intimidation, and actual or threatened violence. Court records indicate that the alleged pimps regularly furnished drugs and alcohol to lower the recruited prostitute’s inhibitions and increase her productivity.
The ranks of “Tycoons” are mostly made up of documented gang members from gangs all over the county, including the following:
West Coast Crips
Neighborhood Crips
Lincoln Park
Skyline Piru
O’Farrell Park
5/9 Brims
Emerald Hills
Linda Vista Crips.
These gang members have a sort of dual membership in Tycoons. Within Tycoons, there are cliques known as PGF, for Playgirl Fantasy; Tycoon/Additup; and BYB, or Break Your Bitch.
According to court documents, these are the allegations:
- Members of Tycoons are akin to a crime family, where all members work together committing various crimes for the purpose of making money.
- The defendants took on different responsibilities within the criminal enterprise.
- Some managed prostitutes and transported them all over the country
- Some forcefully coerced the girls and young women into prostitution
- Maintained their obedience and loyalty through acts of violence.
- Some handled the money. Some placed advertisements to generate business or booked motel rooms in which acts of prostitution took place; and others distributed drugs and committed other crimes.
This is the third time the U.S. attorney’s office has used the racketeering statute to charge large numbers of gang members with operating a criminal enterprise that included drugs, human trafficking, and violence.
In the first case, 39 Oceanside gang members and associates were charged with racketeering, and, to date, 35 have pleaded guilty. The second involved gangs in North Park; that case is pending, with three guilty pleas so far.
“This investigation was initiated through the vigilance of parents and school resource officers,” commented Sheriff Bill Gore. “Local, state, and federal law enforcement will always collaborate and bring to bear all resources available, when the safety of our youth is at stake. I’m very proud of the work done today, and during the entire course of this matter.”