Gang member sought in robbery at transgender brothel
Published: Aug. 27, 2012 Updated: 4:49 p.m.
By LARRY WELBORN / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER<<TRIGGER WARNING: VIOLENCE>>
http://www.ocregister.com/news/valle-369692-police-robbery.html
Cesar Valle booking photo
PHOTO: courtesy of Orange County District Attorney's OfficeSANTA ANA – A $1 million warrant was issued Monday for the arrest of a gang member who failed to appear for his jury trial on charges that he participated in a home-invasion robbery of a transgender brothel after first trying to tax the prostitutes.
Cesar Valle, 22, faced a life term in prison if convicted of robbery, burglary and other charges.
Valle and co-defendant Christian F. Cabrera, 22, were arrested in April 2010 after Santa Ana police were dispatched to an apartment on North Ross Street on a call of a home-invasion robbery in progress. By the time police arrived, the robbers were gone.
One victim had a deep laceration on his head, and all appeared to be frightened and some were crying, according to court records.
One of the men admitted that the apartment was a front for a transgender brothel and said three gang members came by earlier in the evening and demanded a "tax" of $60 per prostitute, Petersen said. One of the gang members threatened, "If you don't pay ... we will come back and kill you."
Valle and others returned around midnight on April 17, assaulted one of the prostitutes, demanded money, stole a laptop and a cell phone from a table and fled in a white sedan before police arrived, according to the transcript.
