Los Angeles motel accused of allowing rampant prostitution, gang activity
The city of Los Angeles is trying to shut down what officials describe as rampant prostitution and violence at a motel along the notorious Figueroa corridor.
L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced a lawsuit Wednesday against the owner of Sun Motel, located at 10914-10918 South Figuroa Street. The suit claims management has failed to prevent “violent and escalating criminal activity” connected to a street gang at the 10-room motel.
“For decades, the Figueroa corridor has been a volatile magnet for crime, including the sexual exploitation of minors, and the illegal activity of some of the businesses in the area has helped fuel it,” Feldstein Soto said in a statement. “This lawsuit is another step toward disrupting the ecosystem of violence and bringing safety back to this community.”
The Sun Motel on Figueroa Street is seen in Google Maps image included in L.A.’s lawsuit. (L.A. City Attorney)
The Sun Motel on Figueroa Street is seen in an image included in L.A.’s lawsuit. (L.A. City Attorney)
Since 2020, the Sun Motel has been the site of at least seven shootings and over 30 arrests by LAPD, Soto said. Officers have recovered 14 guns, and “numerous investigations” related to sex trafficking, sexual assaults, robberies, carjackings, drug dealing, and murder have led to the motel.
In one case over the summer, LAPD officers who were investigating a shooting found four motel rooms occupied by sex workers, the suit alleges.
“Officers searching the rooms for evidence of the shooting found evidence of commercial sex work, including condoms, bikinis, shorty onesies, and high heels,” the suit states.
The city is attempting to force the owners to stop the alleged illegal activity under California’s Red Light Abatement Law and Public Nuisance Law. A similar lawsuit forced a one-year closure of the New Gage Motel in 2023, and that motel eventually closed permanently.
This L.A. neighborhood a haven for human trafficking, officials say
KTLA reached out to the owner of the Sun Motel but did not receive a response.
In September, city leaders, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and county District Attorney George Gascón, along with federal prosecutors, announced a broader crackdown on crime along Figueroa Street.
“What we see along the Figueroa corridor is a human rights tragedy playing out each and every night,” United States Attorney Martin Estrada said at a news conference. “These sex traffickers will recruit victims from foster care, from group homes – recruiting them and grooming them – to then engage in prostitution.”
Anyone with information related to child sex crimes or other human trafficking is encouraged to call the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office at 310-477-6565 or report tips online at https://tips.fbi.gov.
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