In Manassas, a 20-year-old man is facing federal charges of sex trafficking -- with 13- and 14-year-old girls as his victims.

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Ramiro Espinoza-Jamaica, the suspected pimp, calls himself "Criminal" on his Facebook page.

Police say Espinoza-Jamaica is a self-professed gang member who is living up to his name.

He's accused of luring 13- and 14-year-old girls to become prostitutes. And he reportedly ran his operation out of a Manassas apartment complex, steps away from three schools.

The threat of violence made several neighbors afraid to identify themselves publicly when ABC7's Gail Pennybacker talked with them. But they describe the gang-run crime where young people seem to get caught up in a risky lifestyle.

"I don't even walk my dog, if it's late in the evening, I don't do that," one neighbor said.

According to federal court documents Espinoza-Jamaica found middle school girls who had trouble at home and offered them a place to stay. But at a price: to sell sex for profit.

In the criminal complaint he's quoted as saying, "all you have to do is get them drunk or high and they will do whatever you want."

But one 14-year-old girl who says she was a sex slave of Espinoza-Jamaica says he punched, and choked her until she passed out.

"I got little sisters too, I wouldn't like somebody doing that with my little sister," another neighbor said.

The case is part of a wide-ranging crackdown where authorities are shutting down alleged sex-trafficking operations run by criminal street gangs.