OAKLAND — A city resident has been sentenced to 24 years in state prison for trafficking a 16-year-old girl, a crime he was convicted of at trial last year.
Lawrence Bomani Johnson, who reportedly went by the nickname “Scarface,” was sentenced Jan. 5, according to a news release by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. Johnson was convicted in 2023 of human trafficking and other charges related to the teen.
Johnson was originally charged with trafficking two girls — one who was detained during an undercover prostitution investigation, and a second who was identified after a Contra Costa District Attorney’s employee told police a colleague was dating a girl who was being trafficked by Johnson. The first victim testified during trial, resulting in Johnson’s conviction. The dropped charges were related to the second girl.
The 16-year-old girl, who is referred to as Jane Doe in court records, told police she met Johnson two days before she was detained Aug. 29, 2021 in the undercover sting. Johnson, she told authorities, pulled up alongside her in a vehicle as she stood on 25th Avenue and International Boulevard in East Oakland, told her she was pretty and convinced her to get in his car. She said she told Johnson she was 16, that he supplied her with condoms and instructed her to go on “dates” for pre-determined prices.
Johnson has a 2006 conviction of trafficking a 13-year-old girl, according to prosecutors. In a news release, District Attorney Pamela Price issued a statement pledging to “vigorously prosecute” sex trafficking in Alameda County.
“Human trafficking is a tremendous threat to public safety and undermines the quality of life in every community,” Price’s statement reads.