A 20-year-old esthetician was charged Friday with pimping an underage transgender victim in Orange County.
Daniel Eldair Bautista, who will turn 21 on Tuesday, is charged with one count each of human trafficking of an underage victim, pimping a minor older than 16 and pandering a minor older than 16, all felonies. He also faces sentencing enhancement allegations of human trafficking a minor with force.
The alleged victim, who is 16, told a therapist that he was being “sexually exploited” by Bautista, according to court papers filed by police, who said the victim is transitioning from male to female.
The alleged victim came forward to police last October.
When the defendant and his accuser met in February of last year, Bautista suggested the alleged victim work as an escort, according to police.
Bautista placed ads and scheduled prostitution dates and rented hotel rooms as he drove the teen to arranged meetings with “johns” through June, police allege.
The youth allegedly went on about “20 dates” arranged by the defendant and agreed to divide part of the proceeds, with Bautista getting 30%, police said.
Bautista agreed to meet with police on April 5 and allegedly admitted renting rooms for the teen for prostitution and driving him to the meetings, but denied he forced the youth to do it, police said.
The alleged victim provided a video to police that showed the defendant assaulting the teen in an Anaheim alley when he said a sex purchaser did not pay him, according to investigators.
Bautista is 5-foot-10 and weighs 280 pounds, while the alleged victim is 5-foot-3 and weighs 115 pounds, police said.