Four plead no contest in horrific teenage girls trafficking case
OAKLAND (BCN) -- Four young men have pleaded no contest to sexual assault and human trafficking charges in a case in which four Oakland girls between the ages of 13 and 17 were abused last year, prosecutors said.
Prosecutor Amanda Chavez said the men lured the girls to a house on 14th Avenue in East Oakland and then trafficked them or raped or attempted to rape them. Some of the girls were gang raped, Chavez said.
All of the incidents that were charged in the case occurred last year and the suspects were arrested last summer after a lengthy investigation by Oakland police and the Alameda County District Attorney's Office, according to Chavez
"This was a horrific case that had a tremendous impact on four teenage girls," Chavez said.
The four young men "preyed on the girls because of their ages and their intellectual disabilities," she said.
Chavez was prepared to have all four victims testify at a recent preliminary hearing in Alameda County Superior Court, but the defendants decided to enter their no contest pleas after only two of them testified.
They will be sentenced by Judge C. Don Clay on June 19.
The defendants' pleas will allow the girls to "move forward" in their lives now, Chavez said.
Isaiah Seymour, 22, described by Chavez as the ringleader in the case, was charged with trafficking three girls along with 15 sexual assault-related offenses.
Seymour pleaded no contest to several human trafficking and rape-related offenses and faces a term of up to 24 years in state prison.
Gary Holt, 19, was charged with trafficking one minor along with six sexual assault-related offenses. He pleaded to several rape-related offenses and faces 15 years in prison.
Delvahn Mosley-Davis, 20, was charged with 15 sexual assault-related offenses involving three of the victims. He pleaded to several rape-related offenses and also faces 15 years in prison.
Matthew Brito, 25, was charged with 12 sexual assault-related offenses involving one of the victims. He pleaded to several rape-related offenses and faces a term of 10 years in prison.
Mosley-Davis' attorney Darryl Stallworth said the case involved "an awfully sad and tragic set of circumstances" and Mosley-Davis decided to enter a no contest plea because he risked facing life in prison if his case had gone to trial and he'd been convicted of all of the charges against him.
Mosley-Davis believed his plea to some of the charges "was appropriate and necessary under the circumstances," Stallworth said.
The defense attorney said he thinks there were "problems" with the strength of the prosecution's case but "given the volume of information and the number of young girls who were involved in the case, the risk was too high" that Mosley-Davis might get convicted of all of the charges and be sentenced to life in prison.