Orange County may be a mecca for families seeking a few days of fun at Disneyland or Knott’s Berry Farm. But prosecutors just lodged felony charges against a Stockton man because they believe he arrived for another reason: as a pimp trying to recruit a prostitute.
Lawrence Henderson, 35, faces pimping and gun charges in Orange County after officers there posed online as a woman they say he was trying to draw into prostitution.
Henderson, who has a previous felony conviction, was arrested after a two-month investigation in which undercover officers communicated with him over social media, Anaheim police said.
Henderson drove from the Bay Area after arranging on Dec. 11 to meet the woman he thought would be a prospective prostitute, authorities said. He was met instead by Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force officers, who arrested him when he arrived at the agreed-upon meeting site.
Police said Henderson had a loaded gun with a high-capacity magazine and a 50-round drum magazine in his car.
The Orange County district attorney’s office charged Henderson with attempting pimping, possession of a firearm by a felon, carrying a loaded firearm in public, possession of ammunition by a prohibited person and possession of a high-capacity magazine. He also was charged with resisting arrest.
He is being held in Anaheim’s jail, where bail was set at $500,000.
The task force that arrested Henderson is composed of several Southern California police and prosecutorial agencies, including the California Highway Patrol, the Salvation Army, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and others working in Orange County, one of the state’s most popular tourism and convention districts. The task force aims to crack down on suspected pimps, panderers, human traffickers and others involved in exploiting victims for the sex trade.