OAKLAND — Just weeks after filing human trafficking and domestic violence charges against an Oakland man, the Alameda County District Attorney dismissed the entire case, citing a lack of evidence, court records show.
Kevin LaGarde, 37, was charged in late February with human trafficking, corporal injury to a cohabitant, and making criminal threats to a woman who police say alleged LaGarde was forcing her into prostitution. But on March 31, the DA’s office moved to dismiss the charges. Records show that LaGarde was subsequently released from jail.
A court order says prosecutors cited “lack of complaining witness” and “insufficient evidence,” an indication that the alleged victim refused to cooperate with law enforcement.
Police alleged that the victim told authorities LaGarde assaulted her on two occasions, including at an Oakland hotel, and that he’d been trafficking her for months.
LaGarde’s most recent arrest, on Feb. 22, was made by Oakland police Ofc. Giovanni Loverde. In 2016, Loverde was charged with sexually abusing a trafficking victim known by the pseudonym Celeste Guap, who was at the center of a massive Bay Area exploitation scandal that included several East Bay police agancies. The charges were dismissed the following year.
At the hearing where the charges were dismissed, LaGarde was supposed to go before a magistrate who would review prosecution evidence and determine if there was enough to order him to stand trial. Instead, prosecutors moved to dismiss the criminal complaint without a preliminary hearing, court records show.
Source: www.mercurynews.com