Girl, 14, forced to work O.C. streets as a prostitute, D.A. says

A convicted cocaine dealer now accused of raping a 14-year-old Arizona girl and luring her into prostitution went on trial Tuesday in Orange County’s first test of a year-old law that increases the punishment for human trafficking.

Chuncey Tarae Garcia, 33, could face 28 years to life in prison if convicted on felony counts of human trafficking of a minor, pimping a minor and forcible rape, with enhancements stemming from the girl’s age and Garcia’s prior convictions on drug charges.

Garcia went by the name King Slim the Boss, demanded the victim refer to him as Daddy, and used the threat of violence to control her, prosecutor Daniel Varon told jurors in his opening statement Tuesday.

Garcia met the victim, a runaway from a troubled home who is being referred to in court as Jane Doe, outside a Scottsdale, Ariz., strip club where she was working as a dancer in February 2013, the prosecutor said.

He said Garcia preyed on her vulnerability, flattered her with compliments, isolated her and then brought her to California to work the streets in Anaheim and Buena Park as a prostitute.

“This girl never had a chance,� the prosecutor said.

When a Garden Grove police officer pulled over Garcia’s black Mercedes for a broken headlight last March, the officer found the girl in the company of two women Garcia was also using as prostitutes, the prosecutor said.

Garcia denied having sex with the girl, the prosecutor told jurors, though a forensic search of her underwear found his DNA.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Gilbert Carreon told jurors that the girl had been facing a warrant in Arizona, and that authorities had secured her cooperation in the case with a grant of immunity.

The girl, who did not appear in court but testified in a prerecorded hearing, said Garcia was nice to her at first and told her she was pretty. She said she later became afraid of him and that he withheld food from her when she did not earn $200 a day as a prostitute.

“His emotion was connected to his money,� she said. “If he didn’t have money, it was like the world was coming to an end.�

The case is being prosecuted under Proposition 35, a measure enacted by voters in November 2012 to increase punishments in human trafficking cases.

Twitter: @LATChrisGoffard

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