O.C. man sentenced to prison under state’s human trafficking law

A convicted cocaine dealer was sentenced Friday to 17 years to life in state prison for luring a 14-year-old girl into prostitution in Orange County’s first case prosecuted under a state law that increases the penalties for human trafficking.

Chuncey Tarae Garcia, 34, was found guilty in March of one count of human trafficking and one count of pimping a minor younger than 16.

Garcia met the girl, a runaway, outside a Scottsdale, Ariz., strip club where she worked as a dancer in February 2013, the prosecutor said during the trial.

According to a news release from the Orange County district attorney’s office, the girl, referred to in court as Jane Doe, met a prostitute who worked for Garcia and recruited women for him.

The woman, Cierra Melissa Robinson, 28, introduced the girl to Garcia, who forced the girl to walk streets in Buena Park and Anaheim. He also posted suggestive ads of Doe on prostitution websites, the release said.

Garcia took all of her money, and if she didn’t meet her quota, she wouldn’t be allowed to eat, according to the district attorney’s office.

The scheme fell apart about 2 a.m. on March 1, 2013, when Garden Grove police pulled over a car with a broken headlight and Garcia, Robinson, Doe and another woman inside.

“The officer became suspicious because Jane Doe looked extremely young and the area was known to the officer to be a high-prostitution area,” the release said.

Garcia and Robinson were arrested. Doe was identified as a missing person and taken into protective custody.

Robinson was found guilty in July 2013 of human trafficking of a minor and pandering of a minor under 16. She was sentenced to five years in state prison.