Man convicted in Oakland human trafficking case involving 14-year-old girl

OAKLAND — A 37-year-old man faces a prison term after being convicted in a human trafficking case involving a 14-year-old girl, according to authorities and court records.

In a plea bargain Dec. 18, Joshua Johnson, of Oakland, pleaded no contest to pandering for payment and was found guilty by a judge. As part of the agreement, charges of human trafficking of a minor for commercial sex and pimping a minor were dismissed, according to court records.

Johnson faces an eight-year prison term when he is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 7 and must register as a sex offender, authorities said. He is being held at Santa Rita Jail in lieu of $375,000 bail.

The 14-year-old victim was located by police in March while the department’s Vice/Child Exploitation Unit was conducting an undercover operation along the International Boulevard corridor to rescue victims of human trafficking, authorities said.

The girl told police she was a victim of human trafficking and provided investigators text messages from Johnson, who she said was her pimp. The text messages implicated Johnson as a human trafficking suspect and he was arrested within a few hours, police said.

The girl also told police she had met Johnson a few weeks earlier and that he eventually convinced her to work as a prostitute for him, authorities said. They lived together in various motels that he paid for, authorities said.

In a news release, police said Johnson’s conviction “is yet another step forward in the community’s effort to eliminate human trafficking.”