LA area police arrest 15 suspected Johns, alleged pimp in undercover operation

CLAREMONT, Calif. – An undercover operation by Claremont police netted 15 men for offering to pay officers posing as prostitutes for sex, along with an alleged pimp, who offered to teach them the trade, authorities said Saturday.

The operation was undertaken Friday in the area of Indian Hill Boulevard and the San Bernardino (10) Freeway, according to Claremont police Sgt. Jeff Ting. The department has received multiple complaints from residents, business owners and passersby about prostitution in the area.

Three officers posed as prostitutes and solicited so-called “Johns” with offers to perform sex acts for money, Ting said. Other undercover officers arrested the 15 men who took the bait.

The operation also yielded the arrest of 39-year-old Jose Berrios of Lake Elsinore, a registered sex offender for “pimping the three undercover officers,” Ting said. “Berrios told the three undercover officers that he `would teach them to make real money.”‘

The undercover officers tried to ignore Berrios and walk away but he allegedly chased them in his vehicle and drove into opposing traffic shouting at the, so he was arrested, the sergeant said.

Berrios was booked into the Claremont Police Department’s jail and was later released on bail, Ting said.

The alleged “Johns” were cited and released. They are identified as: Senik Muradyan, 39, of Glendale; Alejandro Galan Becerra, 45, of Chino; Jorge Brito Acuna, 45, of Hermosillo, Mexico; Mariano Vega, 45, of Upland; Oscar Aguilar, 42, of Montclair; Edvin Hernandez, 25, of  Hesperia; Oscar Marin, 26, of Baldwin Park; Gabriel Moren, 32, of Montclair; Matthew Arroyo, 31, of Fontana; Jayme Godoy Lozano, 33, of Pomona; Wilmer Martinez Miguel, 22, of  Upland; Jesus Castro, 23, of Pomona; Leobardo Garcia Fregoso, 31, of Fontana; Ivan Hernandez, 33, of Pomona; and Jeronimo Reyes-Reyes, 45, of Riverside.