Prosecutors say the 14-year-old was forced to prepare used clothing for online resale after being taken from northern Los Angeles County.
LOS ANGELES, CA — A Thousand Oaks man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he labor-trafficked a 14-year-old Los Angeles County middle school student for an online resale business, prosecutors said.
Brandon Holguin, 26, is accused of taking the boy from near his home in northern Los Angeles County, cutting him off from his family and forcing him to sort and photograph used clothing over three days in May 2025. The case is now moving toward a June 3 pretrial hearing in Pasadena after a judge held Holguin to answer on all charges.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Holguin targeted the teen at a thrift store four to six months before the boy disappeared. Prosecutors said the teen was taken between May 2 and May 5, 2025, and moved through several locations in the county. District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said the case showed how labor traffickers can gain a child’s trust before isolating them. “For three terrifying days, the victim’s parents and law enforcement desperately searched for this missing teen, fearing the worst had happened,” Hochman said.
Prosecutors said Holguin took the boy’s cell phone and told him they needed to get rid of it so the teen’s mother could not track him. Holguin then allegedly sold the phone and used a false ID to pawn jewelry that had been given to the boy by his family. Authorities said Holguin received hundreds of dollars and did not give the money to the teen. The boy was later taken to a motel room, where prosecutors said he was made to prepare hundreds of used clothing items for online resale.
Investigators said Holguin gave the teen Adderall and told him to take it so he could keep working late into the night. Prosecutors said the drug made the boy sick. The district attorney’s office said Holguin later planned to move the teen from Los Angeles to Northern California, but that plan failed. Holguin then allegedly left the boy alone on the side of a Los Angeles freeway in the middle of the night on May 5, 2025, while keeping the proceeds from the phone and jewelry sales.
The teen managed to walk off the freeway to a nearby location, where staff called 911, prosecutors said. Los Angeles Police Department officers recovered the boy and reunited him with his family that same day. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrested Holguin on May 9, 2025. Deputies had searched for the boy after his family reported him missing from the Montrose area, using community canvassing, interviews, wireless emergency alerts, technology, scent dogs and help from businesses, according to earlier sheriff’s statements.
Holguin is charged in case 25PDCF00359 with six felony counts: child stealing, human trafficking, child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death, furnishing a minor a controlled substance, employing a minor during unauthorized hours and false personation for a written instrument. Prosecutors filed the case for warrant on June 2, 2025. Holguin was arraigned on a first amended complaint Nov. 6, 2025, and pleaded not guilty. After a preliminary hearing, the court held him to answer on all charges April 22, 2026.
The district attorney’s office said Holguin was arraigned again May 6, 2026, on the information and pleaded not guilty. He remains held on $650,000 bail. If convicted as charged, he faces up to 14 years in state prison. The case is being prosecuted by Deputy-in-Charge Ryann Gerber Jorban and Deputy District Attorney Alice Kurs of the Consumer Protection Division’s Labor Justice Unit. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is continuing the investigation.
Authorities said Kayleigh Kaplan, 23, was arrested at the same time as Holguin in the earlier stage of the investigation, but prosecutors later declined to file charges against her because of insufficient evidence. Hochman said investigators remain concerned there may be additional victims. The charges against Holguin are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Holguin’s next scheduled hearing is June 3 in Department C of the Pasadena Courthouse. Prosecutors said the investigation remains open as detectives review whether others may have been affected.
Author note: Last updated Saturday, May 9, 2026.