Authorities are looking for additional human trafficking victims of a man who held a teenage girl with autism in his house against her will and had men pay to have sex with her in his South Los Angeles-area home, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Thursday.
Bryan Barkley, 23, held the 16-year-old in December 2018 in his house in the unincorporated View Park-Windsor Hills area for four days while he took illicit photos of her and posted them on a prostitution website, then had four men come to the house and pay to have sex with her, L.A. Sheriff’s Department Lt. Barry Hall said.
Barkley then released the teenager, leaving her at a bus stop, according to authorities.
Her parents later reported what had happened to the Marina Del Rey Sheriff’s Station and the department’s human trafficking task force was notified.
Barkley was arrested at his mother’s home in San Bernardino County on Feb. 14, 2019.
Following his arrest, investigators found 15-20 additional victims after searching Barkley’s social media accounts and electronic devices , Hall said.
Investigators believe that two women in their 20s helped Barkley by recruiting vulnerable victims through social media sites like Snapchat and grooming them, the Sheriff’s Department said.
One of those women recruited the 16-year-old through social media, according to the lieutenant. Authorities did not identify the two women.
Hall said most victims identified were adult women who were exploited between October 2018 and February 2019, according to authorities.
Barkley is being held in an L.A. jail on $150,000 bail, according to inmate records.
Authorities believe there may be additional victims and are encouraging those who believe they may have been victims to reach out to the sheriff’s department.