16 arrested in Claremont undercover sex worker sting
A sting operation with undercover Claremont police posing as sex workers resulted in the arrest of 15 “johns” and one man for “pimping and pandering” near the corner of Indian Hill Boulevard and the 10 Freeway on Friday, November 4.
The Claremont Police Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigations conducted the operation, during which three undercover officers posed as sex workers and solicited men who sought to engage in sexual acts. After the undercover officers were solicited, the johns were arrested by other undercover officers.
Lake Elsinore resident and registered sex offender Jose Berrios, 39, from Lake Elsinore, was arrested for pimping and pandering after allegedly telling the three undercover officers he “would teach them to make real money.” The officers tried to ignore Berrios and walked away. He then chased them in his car and became aggressive, at one point driving into opposing traffic and shouting at the officers. Fearing for their safety, they continued walking away. Berrios then drove into the nearby Chevron/McDonald’s parking lot, where additional undercover officers conducted a traffic stop.
Berrios was arrested for pimping, possessing a concealed dirk/dagger, and driving on the wrong side of a road, transported to the Claremont jail and booked. He posted bond and was released pending his November 21 arraignment in Pomona Superior Court.
The 15 other people arrested are Senik Muradyan, 39 years old from Glendale; Alejandro Galan Becerra, 45, from Chino; Jorge Brito Acuna, 45, Hermosillo, Mexico; Mariano Vega, 45, Upland; Oscar Aguilar, 42, Montclair; Edvin Hernandez, 25, Hesperia; Oscar Marin, 26, Baldwin Park; Gabriel Moren, 32, Montclair; Matthew Arroyo, 31, Fontana; Jayme Godoy Lozano, 33, Pomona; Wilmer Martinez Miguel, 22, Upland; Jesus Castro, 23, Pomona; Leobardo Garcia Fregoso, 31, Fontana; Ivan Hernandez, 33, Pomona; and Jeronimo Reyes-Reyes, 45, Riverside. All were arrested, booked for misdemeanor solicitation of prostitution, and later released with citations and a court date at Pomona Superior Court.
