3 Face Charges In Human Trafficking At OC Motels
SANTA ANA (CBSLA.com) — Officials Wednesday announced the arrest of three suspects believed to have been involved in human trafficking, kidnapping and torture of a woman inside a Westminster motel room.
According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, Renice Stevenson Flores-Davis, 26, of Costa Mesa is charged with two felony counts each of torture, kidnapping, mayhem and one felony count each of human trafficking, aggravated assault, pimping and pandering.
A news release states that Oscar Gonzalez-Salinas, 33, of Costa Mesa and Cierra Rose Thompson, 27, of Silverton, Ore., are both charged with two felony counts of kidnapping, one felony count each of torture, human trafficking, mayhem, aggravated assault, pimping and pandering.
Flores-Davis, Gonzalez-Salinas and Thompson each face a sentencing enhancement and allegations for personal infliction of great bodily injury and great bodily injury, officials said.
If convicted, the district attorney said, Flores-Davis will face a maximum sentence of 56 years to life in state prison, while Gonzalez-Salinas and Thompson will each face maximum sentences of 39 years to life in state prison.
Prosecutors will request that the three defendants be held on $1 million at their arraignment, officials said.
According to authorities, Flores-Davis is accused of being a human trafficker who exploits women and possibly children for financial gain and deprives his victims of food and physically abuses them if payments are not turned over to him.
In May, police said, Flores-Davis lived in a Westminster motel with a 25-year-old woman and forced her to perform sex acts for his benefit along with others throughout Orange County.
On July 22, Flores-Davis burned the woman with a heated glass pipe used for ingesting methamphetamine, tied her to a chair using zip ties, duct taped her mouth and blindfolded her inside the motel room, authorities said.
Later that evening, Flores-Davis and Thompson tied her to the bathroom sink using zip ties and forced her to sleep there, a press release states.
On Sunday, officials said, Flores-Davis, Gonzalez-Salinas and Thomas tortured the victim by beating her, burning her back multiple times with an electric iron, tying her to a chair then tipping it backward and pouring water down her mouth and nose.
According to the Costa Mesa Police Department, around 6 p.m. Monday, officers pursued a Facebook tip that lead to the arrest of Flores-Davis and Thompson and the transportation of the victim to a hospital.
Later that evening, officers arrested Gonzalez-Salinas at a nearby motel, officials said.
This is an a continuing investigation conducted by the Westminster Police Department, the Costa Mesa Police Department and the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force.
