MURRIETA (CNS) - A preliminary hearing was confirmed Friday for 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.
Isaac Symeon Bragg, 43, of Hemet was arrested last week following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation.
Bragg is charged with false imprisonment, attempted human trafficking, felony annoyance of a child and a sentence-enhancing allegation of targeting a vulnerable victim.
The defendant pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on April 27.
During a status hearing at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta Friday, Superior Court Judge Elaine Kiefer conferred with the prosecution and defense regarding expedited scheduling of the preliminary hearing, and both sides agreed to be ready Wednesday morning.
The hearing will determine whether there's sufficient evidence to warrant a trial on one or all of the charges.
Bragg is being held on $1 million bail at the 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 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.
The victim, who was not injured, and her parents filed a report with the sheriff's department, and detectives initiated an investigation that ultimately led to confirmation of the identity of the driver of the Mercedes as Bragg, Hephner said.
He said that 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.
"Based on the investigation, it appears he was attempting to recruit this juvenile for purposes of sex," the sheriff's spokesman said.
Detectives obtained and served a search 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.
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