Authorities have arrested a Stockton man who allegedly tried to recruit an undercover police officer to work for him as a prostitute.
Lawrence Henderson, 35, used social media to recruit a woman who was actually an officer with the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force, the Anaheim Police Department said in a news release.
Henderson and the undercover officer arranged to meet up in Orange County, and Henderson drove down from the Bay Area on Wednesday and was arrested upon arrival.
Henderson was found to have “a loaded firearm that was equipped with a high-capacity magazine,” as well as an additional “loaded 50-round drum magazine” in his vehicle, the release said.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office filed multiple charges against Henderson on Friday:
- Pandering
- Attempted pimping
- Possession of a firearm by a felon
- Carrying a loaded firearm in public
- Possession of ammo by a prohibited person
- Possession of a high-capacity magazine
- Resist/obstruct a police officer
While pimping and pandering are often conflated, they are two separate charges related to prostitution.
“Under the law, human trafficking is described as depriving or violating the personal liberty of another person with the intent to affect a violation of pimping or pandering,” the release explained. “Pimping is described as knowingly deriving financial support in whole or in part from the proceeds of prostitution. Pandering is the act of persuading or procuring an individual to become a prostitute or procuring and/or arranging for a person to work in a house of prostitution.”
Henderson is being held at the Central Men’s Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. Court date information was not available.
For more information about the OCHTTF, visit ochumantrafficking.com.
To report human trafficking, call local police or the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 888-373-7888.
