District Attorney Jackie Lacey, recognizing those who act selflessly and bravely in aiding police. White helped two women escape from a sex trafficker in a parking lot at Westfield Century City mall in 2013.
On May 15, 2013, Margaret and Stephanie escaped a locked car inside Westfield Century City’s parking lot. A human trafficker had kidnapped the two women and forced them to become prostitutes to pay him all of their earnings. He had also sexually assaulted and tortured Margaret, a 21-year-old. During one of Margaret’s attempts to leave, he took her to a tattoo parlor and had his name and a dollar sign tattooed on her face.
On this day, the pimp had left them in that parked car as he went off to buy them clothes at the mall. He was going to take Margaret and Stephanie out of state to work as prostitutes.
But it was once Stephanie was finally able to undo the child lock that she freed herself and Margaret. They looked around them and sought help. That’s when they found Joshua White, 28, an off-duty dispatcher with L.A. County Sheriff’s Department. He just happened to be at the mall that day with friends and was walking back to his car when the two women approached him.
When he saw Margaret and Stephanie run up to him and ask for help, he didn’t think twice. He knew these were violent and serious crimes, and he said yes.
“Both women got in his car and at first just asked him to take them back home to Long Beach. But that’s when White noticed the tattoo on Margaret’s face, and he started asking them questions about what had happened. And he realized they needed more than to just go home – they needed to get help,” said Deputy District Attorney Lee Ashley Cernok, who presented the Courageous Citizen award to White Aug. 5.
So White found the nearest police department that was open and made sure that they got the help and safety that they needed, and he stayed in touch with law enforcement throughout it all.
The next day, police arrested the suspect.
White also testified against the pimp without hesitation, strengthening the prosecution’s case.
A jury convicted the defendant Lebrette Winn, 24, of two counts of pimping, two counts of pandering by procuring and one count each of human trafficking to commit another crime, sodomy by use of force, forcible rape, aggravated mayhem and kidnapping. On Sept. 18, 2014, he was sentenced to 47 years and four months to life in state prison. The case was investigated by the Long Beach Police Department.
What was so compelling about his testimony at trial was that the victims had already told the jury what had happened, Cernok said, but here was this person who was outside of all of that. He was testifying about what he saw and how scared they were and how their very first inclination was to just get away as soon as possible.
“Joshua White saved their lives that day,” Cernok said.
Two other individuals were awarded as Courageous Citizens along with White. Rosa Almanza, 21, came to the aid of a blind 63-year-old man as he was bleeding profusely in
July 2014 and for later offering the only eyewitness testimony at his abuser’s trial. Luis Moreno, 27, of Los Angeles, had placed an iPhone dummy that had an active GPS locator into a bag during an armed robbery at a Carson wireless phone store in June 2014.
“Today we commend the acts of heroism demonstrated by these everyday people,” District Attorney Jackie Lacey said at the ceremony. “They stood up for victims of crime and played pivotal roles in the prosecution of each case. I am proud to be in the presence of these very special people whose steadfast conviction helped attain justice.”
Lacey leads the largest local prosecutorial office in the nation. Her staff of nearly 1,000 attorneys, 300 investigators and 800 support staff members is dedicated to seeking justice for victims of crime and enhancing public safety. Last year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted more than 71,000 felony defendants and nearly 112,000 misdemeanor defendants.
The District Attorney’s Courageous Citizen Award was first presented in 1986 to commend individuals who have acted with courage and at considerable personal risk to help a victim of crime, assist in the capture of a suspect or testify in the face of extraordinary pressures.
Courageous Citizen Awards are presented at regional luncheons hosted by local service organizations with the hopes that this kind of public recognition inspires others to do the right thing when the time calls. Deputy district attorneys and others in the office nominate award recipients.
The Courageous Citizen awards were given at a ceremony luncheon aboard the Queen Mary at a Long Beach Rotary Club meeting.
For more information visit da.lacounty.gov/community/courageous-citizens.
