Oscar Alfonso Banuelos and Amarinya Charlae Ledeaux
FONTANA – A Fontana couple, facing prosecution for pimping underage prostitutes, will appear in court next Monday.
In a case that began on February 9, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Human Trafficking Task Force members were alerted when they were summoned to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in neighboring Colton to interview two girls.
The two girls, teenagers from the San Francisco Bay Area, were reportedly lured to San Bernardino County to work in the sex trade, according to sheriff’s officials.
Oscar Alfonso Banuelos, 23, and Amarinya Charlae Ledeaux, 20, pleaded not guilty on Monday. Both were charged with two counts apiece of human trafficking and pimping underage prostitutes over the age of 16, according to court records.
The girls were lured from Oakland, according to investigator Carlos Flores and Deputy Vanessa Lopez.
It has been determined that both girls worked as prostitutes in the high desert area around Victorville, Hesperia and Apple Valley, along with the San Bernardino Valley area, where a string of cities are located.
Part of the investigation included a search warrant being served at the suspects’ Fontana home on February 17. The two were arrested later that day on the 9200 block of Juniper Avenue in Fontana, according to the arrest report.
In Monday’s preliminary hearing at Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court, evidence will be presented to determine if there is a case against Banuelos and Ledeaux.
Bail for both Banuelos and Ledeaux was set at $800,000. Neither has been released, according to booking records.
