A convicted sex trafficker accused of cornering a Winchester girl riding her bike and trying to persuade her to work for him as a prostitute must stand trial for false imprisonment and other charges, a judge ruled Friday.
Isaac Symeon Bragg, 43, of Hemet was arrested last month following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.
After a preliminary hearing Friday at the Southwest Justice Center, Superior Court Judge F. Paul Dickerson ruled there was sufficient evidence to warrant a trial on the false imprisonment count, as well as attempted human trafficking, felony annoyance of a child and a sentence-enhancing allegation of targeting a vulnerable victim.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for June 8 at the Murrieta courthouse and ordered that Bragg remain held on $1 million bail at the nearby Byrd Detention Center.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Josh Hephner, on the afternoon of April 20, the victim, identified only as a Winchester teen, was riding her bike in the 31000 block of Manford Drive, near Leon Road, when the defendant allegedly stopped his four-door Mercedes-Benz sedan and blocked the street, preventing her from passing.
Hephner alleged Bragg “asked the juvenile several inappropriate personal questions, which made her extremely uncomfortable.”
“The juvenile was eventually able to ride away on her bike and fled to a nearby shopping center, where she called her parents for help,” the sergeant said.
He said that the girl, who was not injured, and her parents filed a report with the sheriff’s department, and detectives initiated an investigation that led to confirmation of the identity of the driver of the Mercedes — Bragg.
Investigators learned the defendant was a registered sex offender and had been federally convicted of trafficking a minor for sex, for which he was on probation, according to Hephner.
“Based on the investigation, it appears he was attempting to recruit this juvenile for purposes of sex,” the sheriff’s spokesman said.
On April 25, detectives served a warrant at Bragg’s residence in the 22000 block of Soboba Road, resulting in the seizure of “items of evidentiary value to support his actions of sex trafficking,” Hephner said.
