A California man gave a 14-year-old boy Adderall and made him work through the night preparing second-hand clothing for online sale.
Brandon Holguin, 27, was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday after using the middle school student to prepare merchandise for his business before abandoning him beside a Los Angeles freeway in May 2025, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Holguin, who lives in a $1.4 million home in Thousand Oaks, met the teenager at a thrift store several months earlier. Prosecutors said he made “false promises to help him” through phone calls, text messages and in-person meetings.
On May 2, Holguin allegedly lured the boy into his car and drove him through several Los Angeles-area cities. He also coerced the teenager into handing over personal belongings, including family jewelry and his cellphone, officials said.
The boy’s family later reported him missing, prompting an extensive search across neighboring communities that included wireless emergency alerts and scent dogs, the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station previously said online.
Prosecutors said Holguin then took the teenager to a motel room and gave him Adderall, an amphetamine commonly prescribed to help people maintain focus.
The boy became ill after taking the pills, but Holguin forced him to work late into the night preparing hundreds of clothing items for online resale, authorities said.
At about 2 a.m. on May 5, Holguin abandoned the distressed teenager beside the road. The boy eventually reached a nearby location, where someone called 911.
Brandon Holguin, 27, forced a 14-year-old boy to take Adderall and spend hours preparing clothing for his second-hand online store before abandoning him beside a Los Angeles freeway in May 2025. He was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday.
Holguin met the teenager at a thrift store several months earlier and made “false promises to help him” by phone, text and in person, prosecutors said. (Pictured: Stock image of thrifted clothing at a shop.)
Los Angeles police rescued the teenager and reunited him with his family, prosecutors said.
Holguin was arrested on May 9 following a police investigation.
He pleaded no contest and was convicted 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 controlled substance to a minor, according to prosecutors.
He will serve the five-year sentence at a state prison.
Holguin was also ordered to pay $4,300 in restitution for depriving the victim of his possessions.
After the conviction and sentencing, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said the case demonstrated how children can be targeted for labor exploitation.
“Human trafficking often includes a predator luring a vulnerable child into illegal labor exploitation, as in this case.
“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.
At about 2 a.m. on May 5, Holguin abandoned the teenager beside a Los Angeles freeway, according to authorities. The boy then made his way to a nearby location, where someone called 911. (Stock image.)
Holguin lives in a $1.4 million home in Thousand Oaks (pictured). He will now serve five years in state prison for the offenses.
“I’m grateful to Deputy-in-Charge Ryann Gerber Jorban and Deputy District Attorney Alice Kurs of the Labor Justice Unit, who swiftly secured justice in this case and held the defendant accountable for the devastating harm he caused to a minor victim, his family and their community.
“We also thank the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Regional Human Trafficking Taskforce for their commitment to this investigation and ensuring justice was served. I also want to recognize LASD Detective Salvador Ponce for immediately identifying this case as labor trafficking, leading to its successful prosecution,” Hochman said.
