Mack daddy Leroy Bragg (seen in the photo above, left), who was arrested on September 28th in the alleged abduction of one young teen and a slew of other crimes, is also thought to be involved in the pimping of other underage victims.
Police are now urging any victim who has had dealings with the 34-year-old pimp to come forward:
"We believe that Mr. Bragg had encounters with many of our young women in Los Angeles," police Captain Ann Young (pictured above) said to the AP. "This is such a hideous crime. These young women ... are babies, basically."
When investigators were checking southwest Los Angeles hotels to make sure no one had been renting the rooms by the hour for prostitution purposes, they stumbled upon two young teenage girls. The children admitted to police that they had been kidnapped by Bragg.
According to Captain Young:
"They are not street-wise. They may think they are when they leave home, but when they run in to someone like Mr. Bragg, it changes their whole paradigm."
The parent of one of the teens told police that his daughter was drugged and held captive in a room for over the course of four days. He also told police that his daughter had been branded. She was forced to get a tattoo that labeled her as Snipe King's property. Bragg used the alias "Snipe King" as a street nickname.
Both girls were released, one to her family and the other to the foster care system.
According to police, a pimps' modus operandi is to use the Internet, and especially popular social networking sites, to find potential victims. They find vulnerable people, befriend them and then make promises of grandeur to lure them.
Police Commander Michael Moriarty told the AP, "They say come out with me, I can provide you with clothing, nice places," Moriarty said. "He will have other prostitutes that work with him that will help the recruitment process by saying what a great guy he is."
Bragg has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains behind bars on a $1.3 million bail. He had not yet been assigned an attorney. With previous burglary convictions, he could be sentenced to life under the three strikes law if convicted of the latest charges.
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