Brandon Holguin, 27, was sentenced to five years in state prison after pleading no contest to labor trafficking a then-14-year-old, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.

The office said Holguin was convicted Nov. 9 of one felony count each of human trafficking for labor, child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death, and furnishing a minor a controlled substance; he was ordered to pay $4,300 in restitution and to begin serving his sentence forthwith.

According to the office, Holguin met and targeted the victim months earlier at a thrift store and on May 2, 2025 lured him into a car and trafficked him to multiple cities in Los Angeles County. The office said Holguin coerced the boy into giving up personal possessions, including family jewelry and his cell phone so the family could not contact him; Holguin then drove the victim to a motel, furnished him with the amphetamine Adderall, which made him sick, and forced him to work late into the night preparing hundreds of clothing items for an online resale business.

The office said the boy was abandoned on a Los Angeles freeway at approximately 2 a.m. on May 5; he managed to walk off the freeway to a nearby location where staff called 911, and Los Angeles Police Department officers recovered him and reunited him with his family.

The case, 25PDCF00359, was prosecuted by Deputy-in-Charge Ryann Gerber Jorban and Deputy District Attorney Alice Kurs of the Consumer Protection Division's Labor Justice Unit and investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Los Angeles County District Attorney said, "Human trafficking often includes a predator luring a vulnerable child into illegal labor exploitation, as in this case."

If you are a victim of human trafficking or know someone who is, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233-733 (Be Free).

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Nathan J. Hochman

District Attorney of Los Angeles County

Named once in this story.

Everything the Journal has reported on NathanOfficial site

Portrait: Los Angeles County District Attorney / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)

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