Authorities Arrest Mukeshkumar Rambhai Ahir in Operation Broken Blade Sex Trafficking Sting

Federal and local authorities arrested 10 people Wednesday during Operation Broken Blade, a crackdown on alleged sex trafficking along the 3.5-mile Figueroa Corridor in South Los Angeles, including the manager of a South Los Angeles motel.

“LOS ANGELES – Federal and local law enforcement arrested the manager of a South Los Angeles motel and eight others Wednesday during a crackdown on sex trafficking along the notorious Figueroa Corridor south of downtown Los Angeles”

2 Urban Girls

The arrests followed the unsealing of a 65-count superseding indictment that accuses members of the gang of controlling sex trafficking and prostitution along the corridor from February 2021 through June 2026.

2 Urban Girls

Prosecutors said the indictment identifies 51 victims, including minors, runaways and young women from the foster care system, and the case is framed as a human trafficking gang RICO matter brought in the Central District of California.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said the new indictment adds seven defendants to an earlier gang case, including Mukeshkumar Rambhai Ahir, 45, identified as the manager of Stadium Inn & Spas.

In the same sweep, prosecutors said Ahir is accused of depositing more than $64,000 in proceeds he knew came from sex trafficking and of structuring deposits to avoid federal reporting requirements.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell told reporters at a Wednesday morning news conference in downtown Los Angeles that women and girls are often recruited via social media or in person, while pimps focus on vulnerable minors, particularly those with financial or emotional struggles or who had run away from home or the foster care system.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said, "Sex trafficking of young women and children ranks among the worst criminal offenses our office prosecutes — truly the lowest of the low," as prosecutors described a pattern of alleged violence and coercion.

ABC7 Los Angeles

Federal prosecutors alleged the Hoovers worked together to recruit new victims via social media or in person, focusing on vulnerable minor girls and young women, and that victims were recruited via false promises of a luxurious lifestyle, intimidation, and actual or threatened violence.

ABC7 Los Angeles reported that Federal Financial Crimes investigators told them Ahir was not a trafficker but accused him of profiting off prostitution, with Jose Gonzalez saying, "The money told the story."

ABC7 also quoted Essayli describing alleged branding and violence, including that "They will beat them" and that one defendant was forced to have an abortion and then was forced to work that same night.

Prosecutors said the 65-count updated indictment filed in Los Angeles federal court and unsealed Wednesday identifies 51 victims so far, with charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking of a minor, and sex trafficking through force, fraud, or coercion.

“Mukeshkumar Rambhai Ahir, 45, the on-site manager who lived at the Stadium Inn & Spas motel, is charged with financially benefiting from sex trafficking, having allegedly deposited $64,581 in proceeds he knew derived from a street gang's sex trafficking of children and adults”

FOX 11 Los Angeles

The legal framework described by prosecutors centers on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, which allows prosecutors to charge an alleged criminal enterprise rather than treating each alleged act as an isolated offense.

The Justice Department notes that federal child sex trafficking law does not require prosecutors to prove that a victim crossed state or international borders, and prosecutors said the case can apply even when the alleged exploitation occurs locally.

If convicted, prosecutors said some defendants face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum of life imprisonment, and the sweep is described as part of a broader federal effort to disrupt commercial sexual exploitation along the corridor.

ABC7 reported that last year alone the Los Angeles Police Department rescued 54 under girls from the Figueroa Corridor, and law enforcement sources said that as of this week the LAPD had already found 70 underage girls working along "The Blade."