Jasmine Abuslin, 19, testified to the Alameda County Superior Court how married cop Brian Bunton, 41, would coach her “how to be a better prostitute” and how he was was “pimping out” her and others. Bunton finds himself at the center of an Oakland police sex scandal.
What Happened?
Judge Thomas Rogers ruled on Thursday that there was enough evidence for Bunton to be tried on charges of obstruction of justice engaging in prostitution. Not only did Bunton pimp out Abuslin, but he also warned her of an imminent undercover police operation.
“He’s actually pimping her like a pimp would do,” Rogers said after the ruling.
SF Gate reports that Abusli previously went by the name of Celeste Guap.
She said she met Bunton while he was on duty in Feburary 2016 after she had become lost on the streets of Oakland at night. The two exchanged phone numbers and he ordered a taxi to take her home, prompting her to nickname him “Superman.”
Abuslin testified that she and Bunton exchanged texts in conversations she described as “therapeutic, sexual and friendly” although he asked several times for nude photos.
Her appearance marked the first time she testified in a case related to a long-reaching prostitution scandal involving the Bay Area police departments.
The 19-year-old vomited into a trash can while on the witness stand after she described the sex acts performed.
Abuslin also said that Bunton warned her of undercover operations, at one point even telling her that “the 20s weren’t popping,” meaning the streets near 20th Avenue and International Boulevard had a smaller police presence.
Bunton went so far as to rent out a room for her at the Marriott Hotel near the airport during the weekend of March 5 last year.
Abuslin testified that he came by after a patrol shift and brought her coffee. He then deleted their text message conversations before they had oral sex.
“He said I should show more skin to get clients,” Abuslin told the courtroom.
After Bunton left, he texted her warning her which streets to avoid as undercover police were carrying out a prostitution sting. However, Lieutenant Jill Encinias, who oversees the Police Department’s special victims unit, said there was no such operation that weekend. Encinias insists that had there been an operation, the ramifications of Bunton’s revelation could have been lethal. She described operations in which undercover officers were stabbed shot at or nearly run off the road by pimps when their covers were blown.
Abuslin said that Bunton texted her that he had lied about the undercover operation “just to keep you off the streets.”
The teenager reportedly threatened to “snitch” to internal affairs on Bunton after another officer told her that he was part of a “club” of officers who had sex with her and discussed it together.
Abuslin is the daughter of an Oakland police dispatcher and worked as a prostitute for about six years before meeting Bunton, at which time she was 18.
She told SF Gate that she’s had sex with 29 law-enforcement officers in the Bay Area – some when she was underage.
The Alameda County district attorney’s office has charged six men with crimes in the case, with two taking plea deals.
Brian Bunton
Brian Bunton is a 41-year-old married police officer with the Oakland P.D. who is at the center of a police sex scandal in the Bay Area. Judge Thomas Rogers ruled there was sufficient evidence for Bunton to be tried on charges of obstruction of justice and engaging in prostitution, on Thursday.
