A California man has been sentenced to several years in state prison following his involvement in a drug-fueled child labor scheme in which he compelled a 14-year-old middle school student to sell clothing online for extended periods of time.
Brandon Holguin, 26, entered a no contest plea earlier this week to one count each of human trafficking for labor, child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor, according to an official press release issued by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. In addition to his prison sentence of five years, the defendant was ordered to pay $4,300 in restitution for “depriving the victim of his possessions.”
“Human trafficking often includes a predator luring a vulnerable child into illegal labor exploitation, as in this case,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman in an official statement.
The incidents in question took place in May 2025 at a motel and at various other locations throughout Los Angeles County. Holguin had initially targeted the 14-year-old victim at a thrift store several months prior to the trafficking, which formally commenced on May 2, 2025.
With the victim accompanying him, Holguin proceeded to a motel where he put the boy to work “sorting and photographing used clothing items for online resale,” according to prosecutors. The volume of work proved substantial, and the cataloging of hundreds of clothing items extended well into the late hours of the Southern California night. Holguin’s response to this, according to prosecutors, was to administer Adderall to the child.
Prosecutors previously stated that the defendant “instructed the victim to ingest a controlled substance containing amphetamine commonly known as Adderall , which made the victim sick , so the victim could work late.”
From the outset of the ordeal, Holguin confiscated the victim’s cellphone to prevent the minor from being contacted by his family. He subsequently informed the boy that the device needed to be discarded so that he “could not be tracked by his mother.” The defendant ultimately sold the phone and used a fraudulent identification to pawn the victim’s jewelry, unlawfully pocketing hundreds of dollars in the process.
Authorities indicated that Holguin had additional plans for the victim, including an intention to traffic the boy hundreds of miles north into Northern California. When that alleged plan failed to materialize, Holguin abandoned the minor “alone on the side of a Los Angeles freeway in the middle of the night” on May 5, 2025, “driving away with the proceeds of the sales of the victim’s phone and jewelry,” according to the district attorney’s office.
The victim was able to make his way off the freeway and sought refuge at a nearby business, where staff members contacted emergency services by calling 911. The boy was subsequently reunited with his family later that same day by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Holguin was taken into custody on May 9, 2025. The case progressed over the course of several months, during which the defendant was arraigned on the initial charges and entered a not guilty plea. Prosecutors later filed additional charges through a criminal information.
“The defendant, Brandon Holguin, will spend years in prison for his despicable acts of labor trafficking a child, making the child take an amphetamine so he could work all night and cutting off all communications with his family,” Hochman’s statement continued.
Leave a Reply