A Thousand Oaks man gave a teen boy Adderrall and forced him to work around the clock selling items online from a motel in Southern California, then abandoned him on a Los Angeles freeway in the middle of the night, prosecutors said.
Brandon Holguin, 26, met the 14-year-old boy between four and six months earlier at a thrift store, then drove the child to a motel room, where he was forced to sort and photograph used clothing items for online resale between May 2 and May 5, 2025, according to a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Officepress release.
Holguin allegedly told the minor to take Adderall, which made the child sick, so he could work into the night.
“Human labor traffickers frequently target vulnerable children, gaining their trust before isolating them and profiting from the child’s forced labor,” Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in the release. “For three terrifying days, the victim’s parents and law enforcement desperately searched for this missing teen, fearing the worst had happened.”
Holguin is charged with six felonies including one count each of 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, according to the release.
Prosecutors allege Holguin trafficked the minor from near his northern L.A. County home to multiple locations, took the boy’s cell phone and told him he had to get rid of it so his mother couldn’t track him.
He then sold the phone and used a fake ID to pawn the child’s jewelry, which were gifts from his family, getting hundreds of dollars in return which he didn’t give to the minor, according to the release.
Holguin planned to traffic the boy to Northern California but it fell through, so prosecutors say he abandoned the child on the side of the freeway in the middle of the night in Los Angeles.
The child walked to a nearby location, where staff called 911, according to the release. Police then reunited the boy with his family.
Holguin has been in custody since his arrest last year and is awaiting trial. He pleaded not guilty to an amended criminal complaint in April. He is being held on $650,000 bail and if convicted, he faces up to 14 years in state prison
Anyone who may have been a victim or has more information about Holguin has been asked to contact Detective Salvador Ponce at the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department at (818) 236-4015.
The post Man fed teen Adderall, forced him to work then abandoned him on an L.A. freeway, prosecutors say appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
