LOS ANGELES – A Riverside County man pleaded guilty Friday to trafficking two underage girls for the purpose of prostitution on “Fig,” the notorious miles-long stretch of Figueroa Street in South Los Angeles known as a haven for commercial sex workers and customers.
Christian Brandon O’Neal Scurlock, 22, of Moreno Valley, entered his plea to a single federal count of sex trafficking of a minor, a felony carrying a possible sentence of between 10 years and life imprisonment, court papers show.
Sentencing was set for Nov. 18 in Los Angeles federal court.
According to an affidavit filed in the case, in April 2024, officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department stopped O’Neal, who had been seen grabbing a young girl by her neck and pushing her into a Mercedes-Benz. When officers approached, they found two minor girls, ages 13 and 16 years old, inside the car. The officers said they saw several condoms inside the vehicle in plain view, court papers show.
A records check revealed both girls had been reported as missing juveniles out of California. Both girls told police that O’Neal had brought them to Las Vegas from Los Angeles to provide prostitution services as underage commercial sex workers and that they usually worked on “Fig” in Los Angeles. O’Neal required both victims to give him the money they earned from prostitution, according to federal prosecutors.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said further investigation revealed that O’Neal advertised himself on Instagram as a pimp. A review of text messages from the victims’ phones corroborated that O’Neal acted as their pimp and had them working as commercial sex workers on the Figueroa corridor, a 3.5-mile stretch of Figueroa Street stretching from Gage Avenue down to Imperial Highway, federal prosecutors said.
Also, in March 2024, police camera footage on the Figueroa corridor showed O’Neal appearing to scream at the 13-year-old, take her clothes, and depart the area, leaving her completely naked on the street, papers filed in Los Angeles federal court show.
According to his plea agreement, O’Neal provided the minor victims marijuana and alcohol as well as food, clothing, phones, transportation, and housing. At the time he found the 13-year-old girl, she had run away from a group home and was living without stable housing. The plea agreement also states that on one occasion, O’Neal had sex with her.
O’Neal was arrested on Aug. 7, 2024, and ordered jailed without bond by a federal magistrate judge in downtown Los Angeles.
In September 2024, federal, county and city officials in Los Angeles announced the Figueroa Human Trafficking Initiative, a partnership aimed at disrupting human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of minors on the Figueroa corridor, long known as a haven for prostitution.
