In New York City, a man known by the aliases “Sugar Bear” and “Daddy” has admitted to the murder and dismemberment of a woman, as well as sex trafficking charges involving eight women, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York.
Somorie Moses, 47, could face a prison sentence ranging from 15 years to life for his crimes. Prosecutors accuse Moses of killing Leondra Foster, one of the women he trafficked, on January 13, 2017. He allegedly dismembered her body using a saw and knife in their shared Brooklyn apartment. Four days later, he reportedly placed her head, feet, and limbs in a deep freezer in the apartment and discarded her torso and remaining limbs at a Bronx sanitation site. One of the feet bore a tattoo of Moses’ first name.
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace stated that Moses’ guilty plea holds him fully accountable for his actions, which included forcing women and girls into prostitution and brutally murdering and dismembering one of his victims. While the admission of guilt cannot undo the harm caused, it is hoped that it will bring some closure to the victims and Foster’s family.
Moses has a history of violence and manipulation dating back to at least 2003. He coerced women and girls into prostitution through brutal beatings, rape, torture, and threats, promising them love and marriage before forcing them into sex work. He also demanded that they tattoo his name on their bodies. When one victim resisted, he used a Taser on her until she complied. Another victim was slashed with a razor, beaten with a belt, and had lemon juice poured on her wounds, leaving her permanently scarred. A third victim had a shotgun placed in her mouth when she expressed a desire to quit prostitution.
This case marks the first use of the federal statute criminalizing murder in the course of sex trafficking. In a previous state-level trial, Moses admitted to earning money as a pimp for about two decades. He confessed to physically abusing Foster but denied killing her. The jury convicted him of criminally negligent homicide and concealing a corpse but acquitted him of murder. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Moses has a criminal history, having been imprisoned twice before. He served time in New York’s Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica for promoting prostitution and at the Gouverneur Correctional Facility in northern New York for criminal possession of a weapon.