OAKLAND — An alleged East Bay pimp beat his human trafficking case here after the alleged victim testified she made up everything, not only asserting that she lied to police but that she also fabricated texts in case she needed to get him in trouble, court records show.
Lavell Boyland, 37, was charged in May with of human trafficking and pimping, as well as misdemeanor counts of resisting police and child cruelty. But last August, prosecutors dismissed the case against him, following a preliminary hearing where the alleged victim turned the case on its head. The dismissal eliminated the need for a hearing on a defense motion to have the case thrown out, citing the woman’s testimony.
But the legal victory was short-lived. Just four weeks ago, police in Alabama arrested Boyland in a remarkably similar case.
The woman, known as Jane Doe, initially claimed Boyland forced her into prostitution and held her to a $1,000 per day quota, and police said the text messages between them proved it. On the witness stand, she testified that everything she said was a lie.
“To be honest he’s the only man that came in my life and actually took care of me. So when he tries to leave, it’s like I try to use his background to make him stay, which is not okay,” Doe testified, perhaps referring to Boyland’s prior convictions for pandering and failure to register as a sex offender. She added, “He doesn’t have me sex working. He’s never asked me to sell my body. He’s never told me to do anything of that sort.”
When asked about the messages, Doe said she hatched the ruse when she had time alone with two different electronic devices, allowing her to fabricate a conversation about sex work.
“Literally those messages, that’s me texting me,” she testified.
Despite her testimony, Judge Delia Trevino allowed pimping charges to proceed at the hearing, but through out the more serious human trafficking count. Police also testified at the hearing, court records show.
At the time of Boyland’s arrest last May, police alleged that he used a young boy, Doe’s son, as a “deterrent” when the cops came, ignoring both the child’s cries and the boy’s mother, and holding onto the boy so that police couldn’t initially arrest him.
After his release from jail, Boyland moved to Alabama, where he and Doe had previously lived, according to court records. On Nov. 22, police in Tuscaloosa County arrested him on trafficking charges. Media reports there say he allegedly imposed a $1,000 per day quota on a woman who he’d previously trafficked in California, controlled basic aspects of her day-to-day life, and threatened her with a gun. Authorities say they found online ads featuring the woman, dating back to September 2024.
