OAKLAND — A man suspected of trafficking two girls while out on bail for an alleged kidnapping — which occurred while he was out on bail on robbery charges — has accepted a plea deal that resolves his legal woes, court records show.
Brandon Johnson, 37, pleaded no contest to two lesser offenses, pimping and assault, with the expectation of receiving a five-year prison term, according to a transcript from his Feb. 18 change-of-plea hearing. He is set to be formally sentenced on March 26.
The sentence can be reduced by half with good behavior, court records show.
Johnson’s kidnapping case stemmed from an April 16, 2025 incident when an undercover Oakland police squad observed him make a U-turn on the 800 block of International Boulevard, hop out of his Mercedes, chase down a young woman, and throw her in the car as she screamed, kicked, and flailed, according to prosecutors. Johnson’s lawyer refuted the allegation, stating that police struggled to identify the victim and the woman that they ultimately did identify denied being kidnapped.
At the time of the alleged kidnapping, Johnson was out on $50,000 bail in an unrelated robbery case. He was jailed again, but then posted $100,000 bail and got back out, court records show.
Finally, last December, police arrested Johnson while responding to a report of minors being trafficked out of the Bay Breeze Motel in Oakland, court records show. The girls, aged 14 and 15, had been reported missing by their families. Police said at the time Johnson met one of the victims at a youth crisis center in San Francisco and had been with her for several weeks. He reportedly gave the girls $500 daily quotas, instructing them to be sexually abused by adult strangers for as long as it took to make that amount, according to court records.
The plea deal resolves all three cases, and includes a 10-year court order to stay away from the victims, according to court records.