Alleged Long Beach Human Trafficker Ordered to Stand Trial

By City News Service

A 22-year-old Long Beach man accused of kidnapping a minor and forcing her into prostitution and raping and disfiguring a woman whom he also allegedly hired out for sex was ordered Monday to stand trial for rape and other felonies.

Long Beach Superior Court Judge Arthur Jean found sufficient evidence to try Lebrette Winn on all nine counts with which he is charged: two counts pimping, two counts of pandering by procuring, and one count each of human trafficking to commit another crime, sodomy by use of force, forcible rape, mayhem and kidnapping.

Long Beach police were contacted just before midnight on May 15 by Hawthorne police about two people who said they had escaped from Long Beach where someone was forcing them to perform acts of prostitution.

Long Beach police said one of the two alleged victims “had been held against her will for as long as approximately four months.”

“During the time they were held, they were forced to perform acts of prostitution throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties, and one was sexually assaulted by one of the suspects,” according to a Long Beach police statement.

“The investigation also led Long Beach police to the city of Inglewood, where they located a 16-year-old female victim who was found at a motel.”

According to the criminal complaint, Winn “did cut and disable the tongue, and put out an eye and slit the nose, ear and lip'' of one victim.

Police arrested Winn and another man, 24-year-old Eric James Avery, on May 16. They were originally charged as co-defendants, but the cases are being prosecuted separately.

Avery is charged with one count each of pimping a minor 16 or older, human trafficking of a minor for a sex act and pandering by procuring in connection with the third victim. He has pleaded not guilty and is due back in court on Sept. 13 for a preliminary hearing.