Berkeley U-Haul repairman paid teen for sex, police say
Frank Vieira met the victim when she was 16, and knew she lived in a San Ramon group home, authorities say.
An auto repairman has been charged with paying a teenage girl for sex in a trailer at the Berkeley U-Haul where he worked, court papers say.
The investigation began in Richmond in June, when officers there responded to a disturbance in a vehicle.
Inside, they found 59-year-old Frank Vieira with a 17-year-old girl who said she'd had sex with Vieira throughout the year and that he'd paid her for it, $100-$120 each time, according to charging papers.
The meetings had taken place in an RV trailer parked at 1241 Sixth St., a U-Haul rental facility, the girl said.
Vieira had access to the trailer as an auto repairman at the facility, located north of Gilman Street, Berkeley police wrote.
The two had met when she was just 16, living in a group home in San Ramon, according to court papers.
Vieira had a reputation for supplying alcohol and drugs at parties and liked to have sex with teenagers, she told police. He picked some of them up at "the Blade" in Oakland, she said, an area that's notorious for prostitution and sex trafficking, including of underage girls.
During the Berkeley investigation, police said they found screenshots on Vieira's phone of internet ads for sex showing that he "regularly purchased commercial sex acts from young women, potentially minors."
The girl backed up her claims with text messages that showed "Vieira requesting sex in exchange for money and favors," police wrote.
She also had "numerous CashApp transactions" showing payments from Vieira, according to court papers.
Officers also found evidence inside Vieira's trailer that were consistent with her account of events, police wrote.
Vieira told police he thought the girl was 19 and claimed "she showed him an ID that must have been fake to prove that she was of age," BPD wrote.
But, according to court papers, the girl said "she clearly told Vieira that she was
seventeen."
"That's okay," he told her, police wrote. "We'll just have to wait until you're eighteen to get married."
Frank Vieira. BPD
The Alameda County district attorney's office has charged Vieira with five counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor during 2026, according to court records.
Vieira has no other charged cases listed in Alameda County Superior Court, but charging papers allege prior convictions of some kind.
Vieira was released from custody last month on a $125,000 bond, records show.
He is scheduled to appear in court next week.
Update: The Scanner added a booking photograph of Vieira to the story right after publication.
