A 37-year-old ex-convict who was previously found guilty in state court of trafficking a 17-year-old runaway but won a motion for a new trial is expected to be arraigned Thursday in downtown Los Angeles on federal charges.
Xavier Washington faces two federal counts of sex trafficking of a minor in a case that mirrors parts of the previous prosecution.
Washington was convicted in state court in January 2025 of human trafficking of a minor, one count of pandering a minor older than 16, two counts of pandering and other charges.
When Washington was facing sentencing in March 2025, an Orange County Superior Court judge approved a motion for a new trial based on the Racial Justice Act, which prohibits prosecutors from seeking or obtaining criminal convictions or imposing sentences based on race, ethnicity, or national origin, and allows defendants to challenge such bias in their cases.
The motion was based on evidence included in the trial in which the defendant said he wasn’t a “gorilla pimp,” a common phrase referring to an aggressive or abusive pimp.
The judge allowed the evidence into the trial, but later said he reconsidered and decided he had erred and granted the new trial.
Federal prosecutors picked up the case in August 2025 focusing on the 17-year-old runaway.