OAKLAND — Over the past six years, no one in the East Bay has been hit with more pimping and human trafficking allegations than Vernon “Vezzy” Lougin.
At 36, Lougin has convictions of human trafficking of a minor, statutory rape, and violating his probation by failing to register as a sex offender. He’s been investigated multiple times by police in Oakland for allegedly either pimping women, accosting prostitutes in town, or traveling around California areas known for sex trafficking.
Yet despite all these legal problems, Lougin has until recently been one of the luckiest men to face serious charges in Alameda County. Now it appears that his luck is running out.
Last month, prosecutors charged Lougin with trafficking a 17-year-old girl and pimping and pandering an 18-year-old woman. At the same time, authorities are moving to impose a 25-year, eight-month prison sentence that was imposed, but suspended, the last time Lougin faced human trafficking charges.
This latest case stems from an undercover operation headed by police at a La Quinta Inn in Oakland. An officer answered an online prostitution ad requesting two sex workers to join him at his hotel room, then the girl and woman — identified as Jane Doe one and Jane Doe 2 in court records — answered the call. Police say they were able to identify Lougin as the girls’ exploiter.
Lougin is currently at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, a place that’s hardly unfamiliar to him. He spent years there in starting in 2018, when he was accused of sexually abusing and trafficking a 16-year-old girl. He took his case to trial, resulting in a jury that hung 11-1 in favor of guilt.
Then Lougin’s attorney, Darryl Stallworth, worked out a deal with prosecutors: Lougin would plead no contest to trafficking and statutory rape charges, in exchange for a 25-year, eight month suspended sentence. The 2021 plea deal allowed Lougin to walk free the day it was finalized, but also provided what prosecutors believed was a sufficient threat of lengthy incarceration to ensure Lougin wouldn’t victimize someone again.
Then, in January 2023, Lougin was accused of violating probation by “attempting to contact” suspected prostitutes in Oakland. A police officer allegedly observed Lougin get out of a Kia and run toward a woman dressed in lingerie, who “appeared to be in fear and immediately turned away.”
Lougin was re-arrested, and spent seven months in jail over the allegation, only to have a judge deny a petition to revoke his probation. He was released from jail, but accused of failing to register as a sex offender while incarcerated, per the terms of his 2021 plea deal.
This time, prosecutors moved to impose the 25-year, eight month sentence on Lougin. With a new lawyer, Lougin resisted, first arguing that he hadn’t “knowingly and intelligently” agreed to the 2021 plea deal, and only did so with the understanding that he’d immediately get out of jail. A judge denied that motion, finding that Lougin’s plea deal was lawful, but also noted that Stallworth had told Lougin that if he violated probation, the 25-year prison term would be likely, but not a certainty, according to court records.
Those words came back in Lougin’s subsequent probation violation cases, where Lougin’s lawyer successfully argued that a 25-year prison term would not be mandatory, nor was it warranted for his failure to register as a sex offender. Lougin was ultimately sentenced to another two-year probation term last June, but allowed to walk free once again, court records show.
In a December 2023 letter to the court, Lougin described himself as a father of two who is struggling to make ends meet and wants to do the right thing.
“I was on the right path. I come from poor upbringings, I never had father figure in my life,” he wrote. “I have to fight twice as hard just for acceptance while labeled a felon an (sic) sex offender.”
Now, it is Lougin’s probation GPS ankle monitor that may lead to him being sentenced to prison. Police say that data from the device showed him in the same hotel as Does 1 and 2, and that interviews with the alleged victims, as well as cellphone data, all point to him as their trafficker.
On top of this new trafficking case, prosecutors are moving to impose to 25-year, eight month prison term from the 2021 case, arguing that Lougin’s second chances have run out.
“Given his criminal history and continued pattern of reoffending, the defendant, although amenable, is not suitable for community supervision,” a probation officer wrote in a petition to revoke his parole. “He presents a clear and present danger to the community, as evidenced by the current offense, in which he is alleged to have been involved in the trafficking of a minor.”