The United States Attorney's Office

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA MAN INDICTED ON FEDERAL CHARGES OF TRAFFICKING MINORS FOR PURPOSES OF PROSTITUTION

A federal grand jury today indicted a Hayward, California man on charges of sexual trafficking of children and transportation of minors into prostitution after allegedly recruiting three girls and having them work as prostitutes in California and Arizona.

Aaron Pierre Brown, 28, who allegedly used a number of aliases, including “Mac Prozac” and “Daddy,” was named in a seven-count indictment returned this afternoon by a grand jury in Los Angeles.

Brown, who is accused in the indictment of victimizing three girls, faces a mandatory life-without-parole prison sentence if convicted of any of the seven counts because it is alleged that he has previously been convicted in state court of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor under the age of 16.

According to the indictment and a criminal complaint filed earlier this month, Brown advertised the services of the minor girls on an Internet website, and he beat at least one of the girls to force her to comply with his demands. Brown allegedly took sexually explicit photographs of the minors and used some of these to advertise prostitution services on the Internet. According to the complaint, Brown encouraged at least one victim to read a book he authored which contained rules the minor had to obey while working as a prostitute.

The indictment charges Brown with four counts of sex trafficking of children by force, fraud and coercion, and three counts of transportation of minors into prostitution.

Brown was arrested at Folsom Prison on August 8, where he was serving a sentence for a recent parole violation. He has been transported to Los Angeles and is expected to make his initial court appearance in United States District Court this afternoon.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime.  Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The arrest of Brown is the result of an investigation by the FBI-led Los Angeles Regional Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Team – the SAFE Team – as well as the Los Angeles Police Department’s Vice Division; the FBI in Sacramento, San Francisco and Arizona; the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation; the Sacramento Police Department; the Oakland Police Department; the Hayward Police Department and the Toledo, Ohio Police Department. The SAFE Team in Los Angeles is made up of agents, officers and prosecutors from the FBI, the California Department of Justice-Bureau of Investigation and Intelligence, LAPD, the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the United States Attorney’s Office.

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