Charges filed against Lucion Lee Banks for Human Trafficking 14-year-old girl
Author: District Attorney's Office
Date: 10/10/2018 5:11 PM
Today, October 10, 2018, the District Attorney’s Office filed felony charges against Lucion Lee Edward Banks (35), for Human Trafficking and Pimping a 14 year old female victim. The defendant is currently held at the San Luis Obispo County Jail with bail set at one million dollars.
District Attorney Dan Dow announced today the filing of human trafficking charges against Lucion Lee Edward Banks (dob 3/29/1983) for trafficking and pimping a fourteen year old female victim in San Luis Obispo County.
Banks is charged with a violation of Penal Code section 236.1(c)(2) which is trafficking of a minor for commercial sexual exploitation while using force, fear, fraud, deceit, coercion, violence, duress, menace, or threat of unlawful injury. He is also charged with a second count of pimping a minor under the age of sixteen years of age. Banks does not reside in San Luis Obispo County and has ties to Sacramento, Oakland, and San Francisco.
The first count carries a maximum sentence of fifteen years to life in state prison and the second count carries a maximum sentence of eight years in state prison.
“We are very grateful for the outstanding work of the San Luis Obispo Police Department Patrol Officer, who, while on an otherwise routine traffic stop, carefully evaluated important clues that pointed towards human trafficking,” said District Attorney Dow. “This is proof that the work of our Anti-Human-Trafficking Task Force and the continuous training of law enforcement has been incredibly valuable in raising awareness for this very important issue. Our community is strongly united in taking an aggressive stand against anyone caught engaging in the exploitation of another human being.”
Mr. Banks is currently held at the San Luis Obispo County Jail with bail set at one million dollars and is scheduled to appear for his Arraignment on Thursday, October 11, 2018 in Department 3 of the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, the Honorable Judge Garrett presiding.
The case is an ongoing investigation of the San Luis Obispo Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation.
Please direct any media inquiries to Assistant District Attorney Eric J. Dobroth at 805.781.5800.
If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave – whether it is commercial sex, housework, farm work, construction, factory, retail or restaurant work, or any other activity call the NHTRC at: 1-888-373-7888 or Text Be Free (233-733)
Or locally you may contact: Crime Stoppers at 549-STOP; Text “SLOTIPS plus your message” to CRIMES (274637), or call the District Attorney Victim Witness Assistance Center at (805) 781-5821 or toll-free (866) 781-5821.
Also, please visit our website https://www.slocounty.ca.gov/Departments/District-Attorney/Victim-Witness-Assistance-Center/Human-Trafficking.aspx for more information on the Anti-Human Trafficking taskforce and the resources available to victims.
