Sacramento County sex trafficking conviction; victim stabbed, beaten and kidnapped
A Sacramento County jury on Wednesday convicted a man in a sex trafficking case in which the victim was stabbed, beaten unconscious and kidnapped over several months, prosecutors said.
The jury found Johnnie Cokley, 40, guilty of assault with a deadly weapon, human trafficking, pimping, pandering, kidnapping, two counts of felony evading police and being a felon in possession of gun ammunition, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday in a news release. The conviction included enhancements for causing great bodily injury.
The investigation in this case began March 22, 2020, when a female with a life-threatening stab wound to her stomach sought help at a Sacramento Fire Department fire station. Prosecutors said she was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she told a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy that Cokley had stabbed her.
The victim would later testify in court she and Cokley “had a pimp/prostitute relationship” for nearly a year, he kidnapped her in a shopping center parking lot to get her back under his control and she was trying to get away from him when he stabbed her, according to the news release.
Investigators uncovered other law enforcement prostitution-related investigations in California and Arizona involving the victim and Cokley from June 2019 through March 2020. Prosecutors said an investigation in Phoenix revealed a security camera video showing Cokley beating the victim to the point of unconsciousness at a convenience store and leaving her there.
Investigators obtained an arrest warrant for Cokley. On April 9, 2020, detectives tried to pull over Cokley who was driving his car. Prosecutors said Cokley sped away through a residential area until he abandoned the car and evaded arrest. Deputies found multiple boxes of gun ammunition in the vehicle.
Two days later, deputies spotted Cokley who drove away erratically onto a freeway before abandoning that car in a community center parking lot, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Authorities found Cokley in a nearby apartment complex and took him into custody.
On Thursday afternoon, Cokley remained in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail. He is scheduled to return to Sacramento Superior Court June 9 for his sentencing.
Prosecutors said Cokley faces a maximum sentence of 57 years and 4 months in prison. Cokley has previous convictions of vehicle theft, resisting police officers, domestic violence and being a felon in possession of a gun, along with a carjacking conviction that could be considered a strike under the state’s “Three Strikes Law.”
