SANTA ANA, Calif. (CNS)—The chief executive of an Ontario-based food company is facing charges of having sex with underage prostitutes, Orange County prosecutors announced Oct. 6.
Ian Charles Schenkel, 59, of Newport Beach, was charged Sept. 29 with a count of statutory rape, a count of sexual penetration by a foreign object of a victim younger than 16, oral copulation of a person younger than 16, lewd act on a child 14 or 15, a count of statutory rape of a minor three years younger than the perpetrator, oral copulation of a person younger than 18, sexual penetration by foreign object of a victim younger than 18, and two misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution with a minor, according to court records.
Schenkel, the CEO of Haliburton International Foods, is out on $100,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 12 in the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach. He could face more than 10 years behind bars if convicted at trial.
A message left with the company was not immediately returned.
Amanda Emilia Perez, 22, of Huntington Beach, was also charged in connection with the case. She is accused of arranging to bring underage prostitutes to Schenkel, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Perez is charged with human trafficking of a child, pimping a prostitute younger than 16, pandering a child younger than 16, human trafficking of a victim younger than 16, pimping a minor older than 16, and pandering a minor for prostitution. Perez is free on $70,000 bond and faces up to 14 years and eight months in prison if convicted at trial.
The allegations came to light in October of last year when a father reported to Newport Beach police that his teenage daughter had engaged in sexual relations with the defendant, prosecutors said.
The girl accused Perez of pimping her to men, including Schenkel, prosecutors alleged.
Perez is also accused of pimping another teenage girl for Schenkel, prosecutors said. The victims were 15 and 16, prosecutors alleged.
Schenkel is also charged with misdemeanor hit and run with property damage, driving on a suspended license, and failure to provide proof of insurance, an infraction, for a Jan. 17 incident investigated by the California Highway Patrol in Fullerton, according to court records.
Schenkel is also facing a driving under the influence case from November 2019.
