OAKLAND — A 26-year-old man, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to a federal charge of sex trafficking an underage girl, has been charged with murder in the fatal 2017 beating of a man near Oakland’s Lake Merritt, according to authorities and court records.
Kaybaun Rodgers, of Oakland, is charged in the killing of Anthony Owens, 45, of Oakland, who died July 17, 2017 from injuries suffered the day before when he was beaten in the 200 block of Grand Avenue across the street from the Veterans’ Memorial Building.
Authorities said the two men did not know each other before the violent attack and that there is still no known motive for the killing.
It was after Rodgers was arrested by federal authorities in April of this year on the sex trafficking charge that Oakland police received information that he was responsible for the killing, authorities said.
In Alameda County Superior Court records, Sgt. Richard Vass said Rodgers was subsequently identified by witnesses as the person who beat Owens.
Rodgers refused to talk to investigators about the killing and he was charged with murder Aug. 9, according to court records.
It was not immediately known when he will appear in Superior Court on the murder count. He is being held without bail.
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that according to his plea, Rodgers posted more than 45 advertisements on Backpage — a now-defunct sex services website — from August 2016 to February 2017 that depicted and described the 17-year-old female victim.
Rodgers also admitted that on Oct. 24, 2017, he recorded the victim having sex with a man who had contacted her through Backpage. Prosecutors said Rodgers asked the victim if she had been paid and the man if he knew he was having sex with a minor. Rodgers later threatened to post the recording to Facebook in an effort to extort more money from the man.
From August 2016 to April, Rodgers collected the victim’s earnings from sex acts she performed, according to the plea. And he admitted he used her to produce child pornography.
Rodgers was charged on August 2 with a single count of sex trafficking a minor. The minimum mandatory sentence for the crime is 10 years imprisonment, but he could get up to life in prison when he is sentenced in November.