Overview
- Brandon Holguin pleaded not guilty to six felonies and is held on $650,000 bail, with a pretrial hearing set for June 3 in Pasadena.
- Prosecutors say he met the 14-year-old months earlier, took him on May 2, 2025 near La Crescenta-Montrose, and forced motel work sorting and photographing clothes for an online storefront.
- They allege he told the boy to take Adderall to work through the night, then abandoned him on a Los Angeles County freeway on May 5, 2025 where staff nearby called 911 and LAPD reunited him with his family.
- Investigators say he sold the teen’s phone and used a fake ID to pawn family-gifted jewelry, keeping the cash from the sale.
- The DA says the investigation is active and urges tips about possible other victims, and prosecutors declined to charge a second person arrested with him for lack of evidence.