Hochman touts dual prosecutions of sex trafficking on Figueroa Corridor
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman announced yesterday that his office continues to aggressively prosecute both sides of the commercial sex trade on the Figueroa Corridor, pointing to two cases resolved the same day in late July.
On July 30, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge held Jesus Jimenez Martinez to answer on two conspiracy charges after prosecutors accused him of openly attempting to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl on the corridor, using what Hochman’s office described as a novel legal approach aimed at deterring buyers as much as sellers. Martinez was arraigned yesterday the information at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.
That same day, prosecutors charged Jihad Jones — who is already serving a 28-year sentence for kidnapping a sex trafficking victim off the street in broad daylight — with murder in the previously unsolved 2021 shooting death of a man on 70th Street.
“The disturbing reality on the Figueroa Corridor is that the community witnesses blatant commercial sex activity and related violence in a residential neighborhood,” said Hochman. “Jihad Jones, who is serving a 28-year sentence for kidnapping his sex trafficking victim off the street in broad daylight, is now accused of fatally shooting a man in cold blood on 70th Street. This defendant is just one example of the pervasive threat sex traffickers pose to our communities when they are allowed to commit horrific crimes on our streets with impunity.”
“We also cannot eradicate commercial sex exploitation without aggressively seeking to disrupt the demand for commercial sex exploitation,” Hochman continued. “We recently charged Jesus Jimenez Martinez, who is accused of openly attempting to buy sex from a 14-year-old girl on the Figueroa Corridor, with two conspiracies, using a novel legal approach to ensure sex buyers get the punishment they deserve and others are deterred. To human traffickers and sex buyers: Beware that we are watching you, you will be arrested and we will prosecute you.”
Rivas secures $850,000 for Pacoima Wash bridge safety improvements
U.S. Rep. Luz Rivas (D – San Fernando, Pacoima, Arleta, Panorama City, Sylmar, Van Nuys, Sun Valley, North Hollywood) presented the City of Los Angeles with $850,000 in federal funding yesterday for safety improvements to six bridges crossing the Pacoima Wash, a flood control channel that has long posed safety hazards for residents in the northeast San Fernando Valley.
The Pacoima Wash runs roughly 33 miles through Sylmar, San Fernando, Pacoima, Mission Hills, Panorama City and Van Nuys as it flows toward the Tujunga Wash and eventually the Los Angeles River. The funding, secured through Fiscal Year 2026 Community Project Funding, will pay for anchored steel plate enclosures, steel girder repairs and upgraded fencing at the six crossings, aimed at reducing fire and safety hazards.
“For decades, people have crossed the Pacoima Wash to get to work, go to school, and run errands,” said Rivas. “The funding I secured will make the necessary repairs and upgrades to reduce fire and safety hazards so people can continue safely crossing the Pacoima Wash for years to come. I will continue working with [LA City] Councilwoman Imelda Padilla and our community partners to secure federal funding and resources that keep San Fernando Valley residents safe.”
“This investment will make a real difference by helping us address serious safety hazards, protect critical infrastructure and create safer conditions for residents, pedestrians and our unhoused neighbors,” said Padilla (D-Van Nuys). “Public assets, like the Pacoima Wash bridge are essential, and this funding will allow us to reinforce and secure these areas while protecting them for years to come.”
González, Durazo respond to Lineage fire with legislative package
Assemblymember Mark González (D-Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, Pico-Union, Chinatown, Vernon, Montebello, Commerce), and State Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Koreatown, Pico-Union) this week introduced a state legislative package responding to the Lineage Logistics fire in Boyle Heights.
The package includes AB 817, which would bar cities and counties from issuing new building permits for cold storage facilities like Lineage’s unless the owner maintains a contingency fund accessible during emergencies to cover food assistance, housing assistance, air quality monitoring and hazardous material remediation. The bill would also make any settlements residents receive from the incident tax-free and require faster local action on rodent and pest control once a state of emergency is declared.
Companion bill SB 716 would raise the ceiling on local fines for large nonresidential structures, replacing the current flat $2,000-per-day cap with an escalating structure that can multiply up to $50,000 per violation when tied to a state or federal disaster declaration.
“This legislation aims to heal a wound — one that will take time to repair,” said González. “Because this was not just an attack on our health, it was an insult to our trust. We cannot predict when or if another disaster is going to happen, but we can ensure that we plan for it and prepare financially to support our community.”
“Senate Bill 716, as proposed to be amended and with an urgency clause, increases fines for city and county ordinance violations for nonresidential structures of 20,000 or more square feet,” said Durazo. “We must urgently compel action for the ongoing rotting stench and infestation created by this facility. Residents have endured overwhelming odors, pest infestations, and the daily indignity and hazard of living beside decomposing, fire-damaged materials.”
Commerce Mayor Kevin Lainez and Montebello Mayor Georgina Tamayo all issued statements backing the legislation, with Tamayo noting her city distributed more than 750 air purifiers to residents across Boyle Heights and surrounding communities.
Padilla presses CMS on guidance threatening nursing home voting rights
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), ranking member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, led 11 Senate colleagues including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) in a letter this week urging federal health officials to repeal new guidance the senators say could intimidate nursing home staff out of helping residents vote — a change they warn could disenfranchise more than 400,000 nursing home residents in California alone.
The senators’ letter, addressed to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, objects to guidance CMS issued last month that replaced previous recommendations — in place since the first Trump administration — instructing nursing home staff on how to help residents vote.
This help included assisting with absentee ballots or transporting residents to polling places. The new guidance drops those recommendations in favor of warnings that staff must not “violate federal or state voting laws” or engage in “inappropriate coercion.”
“We write with concern that the recent guidance issued to nursing homes by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services may intimidate nursing home staff from helping residents exercise their constitutional right to vote and ultimately prevent nursing home residents from voting,” the senators wrote.
The senators noted that CMS’s July memo cites two prior investigations into alleged nursing home election fraud, even though neither produced evidence of fraudulent votes or any systemic pattern of fraud or coercion. They also raised concern that highlighting those cases alongside threats of criminal penalties could be intended to intimidate legal immigrants who work in nursing homes, a workforce they said has already been targeted by the administration’s policies.
“Ultimately, we are concerned that the changes to CMS’s guidance will result in the disenfranchisement of nursing home residents,” the senators wrote. “The right to vote is guaranteed by the Constitution to all adult Americans, including nursing home residents.
